Hindi
Majid Majidi and Dilip Kumar get Lifetime Achievement Awards at Jaipur festival
NEW DELHI: Jamshid Mahmoudi has received the Golden Camel award for best director for Afghanistan film “A Few Cubic Meters of Love” at the Seventh Jaipur International Film Festival which concluded in Jaipur. The film also received the best cinematography award for Morteza Ghafori.
The Red Rose award went to India’s Aditya Vikram Sengupta for “Asha Jaoar Maihe” in the Best Released feature film category, while the Green Rose went to India’s Dr. Biju for the feature film “Perariyathavar” for giving a Global Message.
The Yellow Rose went to India’s Agneya Singh for the “M Cream” upcoming feature film with world premiere.
Renowned Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi was awarded the first International award for lifetime contribution and the National Award for lifetime achievement was presented to veteran Dilip Kumar (received by Anupam Kher). A video on him made by his wife Saira Bano was shown on the occasion on the inaugural day (1 February).
A total of 159 films including around 10 premieres were featured in the five-day festival inaugurated jointly by actor Anupam Kher, well known filmmaker Shaji N. Karun, National award winning filmmaker Dr. Biju, actress Pallavi Joshi, and director Vivek Agnihotri.
“A Few Cubic Meters of love”, a 90-minute Persian language feature film of Jamshid Mahmoudi from Afghanistan was the opening film of this year’s festival. It is a romantic story of love between a young Iranian working in a Teheran factory and the daughter of an Afghan worker.
The Best Debutante Director award went to Bangladesh’s Abu Shahed Emon for the feature “Jalal’s Story”
The best actress award went to Sohana Saba from Bangladesh for “Brihonnola” (which also won the best screenplay award for Murad Parvez) and the actor award went to Parviz Parastui for the Iranian features “Today” & “Mihman Darim”.
Among the features, the best Sound And Editing Award went to Sandeep A. Varma for the Indian “Manjunath”.
In the feature documentary category, the Golden Camel went to Indonesia’s Danniel Ziv for “Jalanan” as Best Director; the Green Rose went to Ireland’s Laura Fletcher for “African Pride” for the film which gives a Global Messag; the Best Sound And Editing Award went to Switzerland’s David Induni & Roccardo Studer for “Heritage”; and the best cinematography award went to the Indian Kavya Sharma & Sudeep Sen Gupta for “The Mount of Faith”.
In the documentary category, the best film award went to India’s Anand Gandhi for his film “New Borns” in the International Competition of the Worldwood International Panorama while the Special Jury mention was given to the Spanish Asier Urbieta for “Arconda”.
The awards in the short films category were: Switzerland’s ‘Mosqueto’ by Jeppe Hansen getting the best award in the International Competition of the Worldwood International Panorama; the best script going to India’s Kapil Sawant for “Banner”; the best director also going to India’s Sunit Sinha for “Pratihinsa”; the best editor going to Emilions Avraam from Cyprus for “5 Ways 2 Die”; best cinematographer going to Croatian Nic Mussell for “Zwischen Den Linien”; best sound editor award going to Estonian Horret Kuss for “Papa”; and Special Jury Mention for Sweden’s Henrik Henziger for “Nar Tararna Fallit”.
The other awards were the best upcoming Students film award to India’s Aroop Dwivedi for ‘Aai’; the best Rajasthani film award to Gajendra S. Shrotriya for “Selfie”; Rocket Science Animation for “Anita Ka Gudiya Ghar” from India in the Animation Film Category; and Special Jury Mention for Animation Award to Max Hattler for “Unclean Proof” from UK, Italy, and Germany.
The Best Print Media Coverage went to Dainik Bhaskar and the best Television Media Space
award to E TV Rajasthan.
JIFF founder and director Hanu Roj told indiantelevision.com that the festival received a total of 1827 film applications. The selected films include 33 Feature Films, seven Documentary Features, 86 Short Films, 17 Short Documentaries and 16 Animation Films. Of these, 68 films are from India and rest 91 from all over the world. Thirteen workshops and four special meets will be the centre of attraction in this year JIFF.
Bangladesh was the Guest Country at the Festival this year.
Out of 33 feature films, 10 feature films had their first Indian, Asian and World Premiere.
Hindi
GUEST COLUMN: Why film libraries & IPs are the new engines of growth
Unlocking value through catalogue strength and IP synergy
MUMBAI:In a media landscape defined by fragmentation, platform proliferation, and ever-evolving audience behavior, the economics of filmmaking are undergoing a fundamental shift. No longer confined to box office performance, a film’s true value is now measured across an extended lifecycle that spans digital platforms, syndication networks, and global markets. As content consumption becomes increasingly non-linear and algorithm-driven, film libraries and intellectual properties (IPs) are emerging as strategic assets, capable of delivering sustained, long-term returns. For Mohan Gopinath, head – bollywood business at Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd., this transformation signals a decisive move from hit-driven models to portfolio-led value creation. In this piece, Gopinath explores how legacy content, when intelligently repurposed and distributed, can unlock recurring revenue streams, why the interplay between catalogue and original IP is critical, and how media companies can build resilient, future-ready entertainment businesses.
For all these years, we thought that a film is successful if it performs well in theatres. There are opening weekend numbers, box office milestones, and distribution footprints that gave a good picture of how the movie has done commercially and also tell us about its cultural impact. However, there are multiple platforms today, always-on content ecosystem, which has caused a shift. Today, the theatrical performance is not the culmination of a film’s journey but merely the beginning of a much longer and more dynamic lifecycle.
Film libraries today are emerging as high-value, constantly evolving assets that deliver sustained returns well beyond initial release cycles. This becomes a point of great advantage for legacy content owners with diverse catalogues, to shape long-term business outcomes.
According to FICCI-EY, the media and entertainment industry of India achieved a valuation of Rs 2.78 trillion in 2025 which is expected to reach Rs 3.3 trillion by 2028 through a compound annual growth rate of approximately 7 per cent and digital media will bring in more than Rs 1 trillion to become the biggest sector which generates about 36 per cent of overall market revenues.
This shift is the expansion of distribution endpoints. We know how satellite television was once the primary secondary window but today, it coexists with YouTube, OTT platforms, Connected TV, and FAST channels. Each of these platforms caters to distinct audience demographics and consumption behaviors, helping content owners to obtain more value from the same asset across multiple formats.
For instance, films that had great reruns, now find continuous engagement across digital platforms. On YouTube, classic Hindi cinema continues to attract significant viewership, reaching audiences across generations and geographies with remarkable consistency. At Shemaroo Entertainment, this is reflected in our film library shaped over decades as part of a long association with Indian entertainment. From classics such as Amar Akbar Anthony to much-loved entertainers like Jab We Met, Welcome, Dhamaal, Phir Hera Pheri, Dhol, Golmaal, and Bhagam Bhag, many of these titles continue finding new audiences while retaining their place in popular memory. Their enduring appeal reflects how culturally resonant stories can continue creating value over time. Similarly, FAST channels have created curated, always-on environments where catalogue content can continue to thrive through star-led and genre-based programming.
This multi-platform approach has very well transformed films into long-tail IP assets which are capable of generating recurring revenue across advertising, subscription, and syndication models.
The evolution of audience behavior is equally important. Nowadays, it’s more important to find what’s more relative than what’s recent as viewers are more influenced by mood, memories, and algorithmic suggestions than by release schedules. Even if a movie was released decades ago, it can trend alongside a newly released movie, if surfaced in the right context. Thoughtful packaging, whether through festival-based playlists, actor-driven collections, or genre clusters, allows catalogue content to remain dynamic and continuously discoverable. Shemaroo Entertainment has built extensive film libraries over decades and its focus has mostly been on recontextualizing content for the consumption of newer environments. This process doesn’t just include digitization and restoration, but also re-packaging of films as per platforms.
Syndication itself has evolved into a key growth driver. In perspective, when looking at the domestic market, curated content packages continue to find strong demand across broadcast and digital platforms. Meanwhile, in the international market, especially in markets like Middle East, North America and Southeast Asia, the appetite for Indian content is opening up new monetization avenues. Here, the ability to package and position catalogue content effectively becomes as important as the content itself.
Importantly, the need to re-package catalogue content does not diminish the role of new content. In fact, originals and fresh IP are essential to sustaining the long-term value of a film library because they act as discovery engines that bring audiences into the ecosystem, while catalogue content drives depth, retention, and repeat engagement.
This interplay between the “new” and the “known” is what defines a robust content strategy today. While new films generate spikes in consumption, catalogue titles offer familiarity and comfort. These are factors that are increasingly valuable in an era of content abundance and decision fatigue. This is also shaping our strategy, drawing value from both a deep catalogue assets and a growing focus on original IPs to strengthen long-term audience engagement and build more predictable revenue streams.
There is growing recognition that long-term value in entertainment will be shaped not only by how intelligently existing content continues to live, travel and find relevance, but also by how consistently new stories are created to renew that ecosystem. In that sense, film libraries and original IP are not parallel bets, but reinforcing engines of growth. For media companies, the opportunity lies in making these two forces work together, because that is increasingly where more resilient and predictable businesses are being shaped.
Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.
