Hindi
Rabba Main Kya Karoon: Just another wedding gone wrong
MUMBAI: Ever since films like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and Monsoon Wedding succeeded at the box office, the Indian wedding has been a genre in Hindi films. You don’t need a story. You can collect a motley crowd and use all the colour and light you want when you make a wedding film.
However, there has to be some excuse for a story. Here goes: Akash Chopra proposes to his childhood sweetheart, Tahira Kochhar. The wedding, following an engagement ceremony, is fixed. The guests and relatives start gathering and a festive atmosphere prevails all round. But Chopra is most thrilled when his elder brother and idol, Arshad Warsi, arrives. Warsi is Chopra’s mentor. Soon Warsi learns that Chopra has been a one-woman man and not only has he not indulged in chasing other women, he is still a virgin.
Warsi has a theory that such a marriage can’t last and not cheating on one’s wife leads to a failed marriage. He decides to do something about the problem in three steps. He is determined not to send his brother to the altar a virgin man. He also plants on the wedding scene a girl who was interested in Chopra earlier to seduce him. Warsi keeps creating situations where Chopra would bump into her. This charade goes on while on the side the other characters’ traits are etched out in an effort to create funny situations.
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Producer: Moti Sagar. . |
Raj Babbar is the eldest of the family and comes across as a ‘khadus tau’ until he confesses to almost going wayward. Tinnu Anand was a muscular hulk once upon a time but has reduced to looking like a walking stick because he is always scared of his wife, Himani Shivpuri. He will learn about something wrong he did years back. Paresh Rawal plays mind games with his wife, Sushmita Mukherjee, and keeps her hooked to drugs while he keeps flirting with young girls. Shakti Kapoor likes to chase girls too as his wife, Supriya Karnik, keeps nagging him about smoking. Then there is the pair of Rakesh Bedi and his wife, Navni Parihar, who married out of love but are seen bickering and fighting all the time. These are fillers to entertain you while Warsi tries his devices to rid Chopra of his virgin status.
Finally, as expected, Warsi’s ploy backfires. Chopra’s marriage is called off as Kochhar catches him with the other girl. Warsi is foolhardy and bravely tells his wife how he was cheating on her all the time. There is no logic in Warsi’s confession to his wife except to create a little drama at the end. His wife walks out and so does Kochhar.
Chopra does well while Kochhar is okay. Warsi is his usual self. Rest fill the bill. Musically, Bari Barsi…. And Muh meetha …have some lively moments. Direction is fair.
Rabba Mai Kya Karoon may find some takers in the North. Its beginning has not been very encouraging.
Chor Chor Super Chor: May just manage to steal a few smiles
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Producers: Ved Kataria, Renu Kataria. |
Tehelka magazine introduced India to sting operations and like all fads, soon filmmakers caught up with the idea too. They found ways to add sting operations to their scripts without always understanding the essence of a sting. Chor Chor Super Chor is a sort of Oliver Twist revisited, however, with an interesting concept.
In a side alley of old Delhi, Shuklaji runs a photo studio. But that is just a façade for he actually controls a gang of young pickpockets and petty thieves. The boys have grown up under his care and are very loyal to him. One of the boys, Deepak Dobriyal, does not want to be part of such a way of life anymore and wants out. He tries to land jobs and finally gets one: to stand dressed as a Punjabi ‘samosa’ outside a savoury shop at one of the Delhi metro stations. In his earlier attempt to find a job, he has come across a girl, Priya Bathija, with whom he has fallen in love.
As luck would have it, Bathija arrives at the same metro station everyday at a fixed time to go to her job. One day, Dobriyal sees her handbag being picked. She is stopped by the station security and asked to show her ticket or else pay a fine, both things she can not do since her ticket as well as money was lost with the bag. Dobriyal uses his clout with the security man and gets her out of this tricky situation. Dobriyal knows one of his own people took it. He retrieves her bag and returns it to her the next day. The ice is broken and Dobriyal now becomes her friend. She wants to know how he got her bag back and he owns up to knowing them. She convinces him to show her the gang in operation and the smitten Dobriyal duly obliges.
Dobriyal starts dreaming of finding a house as he expects her to propose to him any moment. Instead what he gets is a solid shock. The TV is running a promo of a sting operation of a chain of pickpockets and how they operate in unison on one target. Dobriyal is the one on TV in a tell all session! Bathija was a TV reporter. She had fooled and used him. His pickpocket friends are also angry with him for giving them away. Dobriyal asks for seven days and the gang’s help to turn the tables on Bathija.
Dobriyal plans a TV reality show of his own and first prank he plays is on the very owner of Bathija’s channel. He and his ‘team’ also involve their earlier victims who were caught on Bathija’s sting. Their show is ready. It is taken to Bathija’s boss. The result is, not only is the show approved it also leads to Bathija losing her job. The film carries a side track of the kidnap of a miser diamond merchant by one of the gang members who wanted to do something big instead of petty crimes his gang did every day. That track helps the film end on an action climax.
The film ambles along initially but it starts getting interesting as it progresses and when the counter sting is happening. Direction is good. The performances are generally on the better side. With resources being limited, rest of the aspects are okay.
Chor Chor Super Chor is fairly entertaining but has had a poor opening due to lack of face value and promotion.
BA Pass: May just not pass at the box-office
The title of this film suggests nothing about its content. In fact, it is irrelevant. In the quest to make shoestring budget movies, one of the genres independent makers opting for is sex. Last week we had Nasha about juvenile infatuation with a buxom teacher. This week we have BA Pass, a film about a nymphomaniac and her eye for a variety of lovers. It is based on a short story, The Railway Aunty by Mohan Sikka.
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Producer: Ajay Bahl. |
Shadab Kamal’s is a cursed family. When his parents die, his grandfather hands him over to his daughter (the boy’s bua), Geeta Aggarwal, to take care of him in Delhi, where she lives, so that he can finish his Bachelor of Arts degree. (It is a different matter that a BA does not mean much these days.) The reason to send a boy away from a house left with two girls and an old man makes no sense; the rest of the film does not either. Geeta, with her husband and a son, lives in the Railway Settlement and Kamal tries to fit in there.
With only four hours to spend in college, Kamal has a lot of spare time on hand. Some of this he spends with an undertaker, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, and rest Geeta makes him spend running errands or doing household chores. It is during one kitty party that Shilpa Shukla, his aunt’s friend, notices the boy. She asks Geeta to send the boy over to her house to help with some errands. There is no way Geeta can say no since Shilpa’s husband is her husband’s boss.
Right from his first visit, Shilpa initiates Kamal into sex and various ways to enjoy it. Her hunger for sex is insatiable. She helps him look more presentable and soon also introduces him to her other ‘needy’ friends. The boy has now turned into a regular gigolo and started making a lot of money. The arrangement works fine for all concerned. But, Shilpa’s wayward ways are whispered in ladies circles and have also filtered down to her husband, Rajesh Sharma, who decides to give her a surprise one day and drops in at home at an odd hour. Kamal had only come to give his life’s savings to Shilpa for safekeeping but she could not resist using his visit for one more act when Sharma enters.
Kamal’s world turns upside down. Sharma makes sure he is thrown out of his bua’s house. His plans to rent a house and bring his sisters back from hostel are in limbo since all his earnings are with Shilpa. He takes shelter with Bhattacharya and also asks him to go get his money from Shilpa, which he fails to do. Kamal vows to get his money back and breaks into her house and ransacks it but the money is nowhere to be found. Shilpa enters, he brandishes his knife, but still there is no money. The scene gets tricky as Sharma is at the door threatening to break it down. Shilpa’s attempt to trick Kamal and frame him only results in his stabbing and killing her.
Kamal can’t escape from the police for long and that is the tragic end to his life.
One may call this film a bold one but what is its purpose? The film has neither a message nor any entertainment. Why is the boy so star-crossed that nothing ever goes right for him? Some people may enjoy the film till the sex scenes are enacted sans nudity; might as well because neither Shilpa nor Kamal has a body worth the full monty. Made economically, the film has neither pleasant moments nor pleasant visuals to offer, having been shot in down market parts of the capital. Dialogue is good, especially those penned for Shilpa.
BA Pass has its chances at single screens in the North. Its content grossly limits its audience.
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.
