Hindi
IFFI 2007 will have 700 additional seats
MUMBAI: The first meeting of the Organizing Committee for IFFI-2007 was held on 25 October under the chairmanship of information & broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi. The meeting deliberated on the various issues related to IFFI-2007 and reviewed the level of preparedness for the event.
The organising committee took the following decisions:
The opening and closing functions will be simple and elegant in keeping with the practice in most of the prestigious international film festivals. The focus will be on the opening and closing film. There will be no entertainment programme at these functions. The awards ceremony will be held at the closing function. This would be followed by the screening of the closing film.
Two new theatres with a seating capacity of 300 seats are being built in the Festival Complex. Two public theatres are being upgraded and provided with the latest projection facilities, thereby making another 400 seats available for the festival.
The total number of delegates that may be registered has been fixed in proportion to the availability of theatre seats.
The registration system for all delegates has been made completely on-line. Delegate cards will be prepared well in advance so that there are no long queues at the registration counter.
For the first time a ticketing system has been introduced whereby every delegate will have to book in advance for any films that he/she would like to see. A maximum of three tickets for every delegate and five for every media person will be issued.
The delegate registration fee for late registration has been considerably enhanced to Rs 1000. Students, will however, be given a concession of 50 per cent.
The Indian Panorama will have 21 features and 15 non-feature films selected by a peer Jury headed by KS Sethumadhavan, and Arun Khopkar respectively. Indian Retrospectives will showcase Retrospective on the films of Tapan Sinha and Vijay Anand. Homages section will focus on Cinematographer KK Mahajan, actress Vanamala Devi and music director OP Nayyar.
Among the highlights of foreign section are, 14 feature films from Asia, Africa and Latin America in the Competition Section. Cinema of the World will have about 60 award winning feature films from 40 countries.
Master Classes, Technical Retrospective. Foreign Retrospectives and Country Focus will be the other features of IFFI-2007.
For the first time, two programmers from the Goa government will be curating for IFFI with two separate sections called – India 60 which will celebrate India‘s 60th anniversary with three feature films and two documentary films and a retrospective package on Volker Schlondorff, the eminent German film maker.
The Film Market will be organized by NFDC with the participation of CII and FICCI. The NFDC is organizing a buyer‘s lounge and co production market. FICCI is organizing a seminar and master class on animation and visual effects. CII will organise ‘The Big Picture‘ Conference.
A new initiative is being undertaken by NFDC in partnership with DFF where international consultants and experts will advise and work with selected filmmakers to develop scripts of international quality.
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.
