Hindi
Children’s film festival begins 30 November
MUMBAI: Worldkids Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of ‘entertainment with a purpose‘, announced the launch of the “Kotak Worldkids International Film Festival.”
The festival to be held in association with Kotak Mahindra Bank, Godrej Interio, BPL Mobile, AIAI, Ryan International School, Adlabs, P9 Integrated and with support from Department of Culture – Government Of Maharashtra, Children‘s Film Society of India (CFSI) and Times Foundation, will showcase the best of International and National award winning Animation, Documentaries, Shorts and Feature Films at the week long festival.
Adlabs, Wadala will screen and host Mumbai‘s first-of-its kind children‘s film festival targeted at 8-18 year olds. World Kids Foundation will be promoting the festival while P9-Cinema Activation will be marketing the event.
Some of the multi-award winning films which will be showcased during the festival are Red like the Sky –Italy, Hayat-Iran, Heda Hoda– India, Magnifico – Phillipines, An Inconvenient Truth – USA, Charkh– Iran, Summer with the Ghosts – Canada, Pinky & Million Pug – Germany, Halo – India, Malli – India, Bonkers – Holland and Benji – USA.
Explaining the reason behind initiating such a move, Festival Director Manju Singh said, “Our endeavor is to engage the children of India with positive media images and inspire them into thinking and learning while having a good time Entertainment with a Purpose is the Foundations mantra.”
“Kotak Worlkids International Film Festival will provide a platform for young and talented directors to reach a wider audience at the festival, thus hoping to encourage the wider film fraternity into dabbling more in the production of films for children,” asserted Vijay Kalantri, Chairman, Advisory Board, WKIFF.
Commenting on the occasion, Rahul Sinha, Group Brand Head, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., said, “The idea of hosting this exclusive international film festival for children was first mooted with the Worldkids Foundation and I am delighted that this has come to fruition. It will be our endeavor to provide healthy and wholesome entertainment to children, help them enhance their knowledge, develop their character, broaden their perspective and help shape them into useful citizens of modern India.”
Talking about P9‘s participation to market the festival P9 Integrated CEO Navin Shah said, “Worldkids International Film Festival was more of an opportunity for us to be part of something that was not just huge by itself in its nature but also an opportunity for us to be providing a platform for the children of our nation. It is very crucial for us to imbibe good values and culture in our children and this festival promises to do the same.”
Commenting on the association with the WorldKids International Film Festival, BPL Mobile director and CEO S Subramaniam said, “We endeavour to contribute to the growth of the society in the best possible manner and hence we are privileged to be associated with this International Film Festival which proposes learning through entertainment to the children of today. This association will serve as a platform for us to help these children learn as they grow since we at BPL Mobile believe that it is the children of today who will take our country ahead in the future.”
Godrej Interio COO Anil Sain Godrej aid,” World Kids Festival is an opportunity for Godrej Interio (i-space) to interact with the children from these schools that will only help us as a company form a bigger and brighter relationship with each one of them.”
Adlabs Cinemas COO Tushar Dhingra said, “Kids are a very important part of our audience and this festival is a great opportunity for us to entertain them and their families in a healthy and whole some way.”
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.
