Hindi
31st October: Genuine effort wasted
MUMBAI: Rather late in the day, 31stOctober is a film about the Sikh genocide of 1984 in Delhi in the aftermath of assassination of the then prime minister of India Indira Gandhi. She was killed by her security guards, who happened to be Sikh. That assassination, again, is attributed to the anger of the Sikh community following an army operation in the precincts of the Golden Temple in Amritsar. It has been 31 years since the episode and the relevance of this film and, what it wants to convey would make sense to few if any.
It is pre-October 31-1984 Delhi (mainly East Delhi as depicted in the film) where things are normal. People are going about doing their business, there is bonhomie. There never was a feeling of a divide between Hindu and Sikh, neither the issue nor a reason to think of them as different persons or of community was considered.
Vir Das is shown as a simple family-loving Sikh working for a government enterprise and has Soha Ali Khan as his wife and three children making up his family. He is a sincere worker and is much respected by his colleagues as well as friends.
It is another day at work and Vir is on his desk. But, unknown to him, things seem to have changed suddenly as even the office peon fails to respond to his calls, and there is an eerie silence around him. As he soon finds out, the whole office has gathered around a transistor radio; the news is not good. PM Indira Gandhi has been shot.
Suddenly, everybody has turned cold to Vir. He is advised to leave immediately. The offices are closed, shops down shutters and a pall of gloom and fear envelopes the air. Two lookalikes of prominent politicians are seen inciting the crowds (of Hindus) to go out and seek revenge from Sikhs.
What follows is a massacre of Sikhs all around the city reminiscent of Hindu-Muslim clashes of the Partition era. No Sikh seems to be safe, on the road or hidden at home, nor ones in the refuge of Hindu families.
Since this is not a documentary, a hint of a story and to balance things as well as to showcase a semblance of sanity among Hindus, comes in the form of Vir’s Hindu friends coming to his rescue risking their lives and braving police (which sided with the rioters) and the goons killing people indulging in arson mercilessly.
31stOctober is a sketchy, half-hearted effort to depict the genocide. As numerous Sikhs are slaughtered, an operation to save one family has little effect on the viewer. The direction is patchy; few films have succeeded in showing riot scenes convincingly in Hindi films and this film ranks at the bottom. What is bad about the film is the casting of Vir Das as the Sikh in danger. He carries his deadpan standup comedian look to this rather serious role. Add to that his characterization, which is of a Sikh who breaks down instead of standing by his family while his friends take the risk and one of them also sacrifices his life for the cause. Rest of the actors make a sincere effort.
If 31st October has an audience to cater to, it is unlikelyto be found in cinema halls.
Producers: Harry Sachdeva.
Director: Shivaji Lotan Patil.
Cast: Vir Das, Soha Ali Khan.
My Father Iqbal: No drama in Indian Muslim’s honesty
‘My Father Iqbal’ is like recreating the life of an honest man from Jammu & Kashmir. It is unlike any film as it is neither a potboiler nor cinema. There are no twists and turns, no villains nor a drama or a dramatic ending. It is the documentation of the life of a man and his circumstances. It is supposed to be a real-life account.
Iqbal Khan, played by Narendra Jha, is a family loving Muslim in Bani, a township in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, surrounded by Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and close to the Pakistan border. Jha is an engineer in the PWD and is a caring man to his wife, Komal Thacker, and his daughter and son. Jha is also sincere with his work, held in high esteem not only by his bosses and colleagues but also by people of the area for whom he always goes out of his way.
Jha, a man who is devoted to his family, lives like any normal, law-abiding and patriotic citizen despite the circumstances of terrorism and violence surrounding him and his town. He is probably traditional in the local sense because, while he dreams of sending his son to a high school in a bigger city, his daughter stays put in this small place.
Time passes by with Jha and Komal tending to the family, romancing and singing while the son on whom they hang much hope has grown up. He has decided to opt for a career in media and, much against his parents’ hopes, has decided to move to Mumbai. His concern for his family comes in the form of regular remittances of money.
Terrorism, which was lurking on the outskirts, has now invaded the town. The terrorists confer with Jha’s boss, the town police chief and the local MLA, to find a man with a clean image to store a bag full of RDX. The honest man in their sight happens to be Jha. Why do they need an honest man when the cop and the MLA are a party to the plan?
Jha’s refusal to accept the bag is countered by a threat of harm that can be done to his son in Mumbai. With his loyalty at stake, Jha asks his son to return home instantly. He wants to share his dilemma with his now grown-up son. The son is on his way and his train is running late by a couple of hours. But, Jha, who has made his decision not to betray his country, takes the ultimate step of not waiting for those two hours for his son to return.
That is about all as, if one is waiting for a traditional ending to the story, there is none. It is about a patriotic man who was a Muslim and from Jammu & Kashmir, who was neither a terrorist nor a supporter.
Besides the scenic beauty of the area of Bani and its surroundings, My Father Iqbal has some soothing music in a couple of ghazals. Performance-wise, Jha is impressive and Komal supports well.
Producer: Paresh Mehta.
Director: Suzad Iqbal Khan.
Cast: NarendraJha, Komal Thacker, Paresh Mehta, Raj Sharma, Amit Lekhwani, Sudam Iqbal Khan.
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.
