Hindi
Actors Chandrashekhar and Manoj Kumar honoured at Jagran Film Festival
Veteran Chandrashekhar whose film career spans from the black and white era to the early part of this century received the Grand Prize for lifetime contribution to the cinematic arts while thespian Manoj Kumar was honoured for his work as the Icon at the Jagran Film Festival which concluded in Mumbai over the weekend.
The 90-year old Chandrashekhar has acted in 186 films commencing in 1947 with Arsi. Beginning as an actor in Fashion in 1957, Manoj Kumar went on to act in or make a large number of films, many of them with patriotic themes which got him the nickname of Bharat Kumar. The government also honoured him with the Padma Shri.
Versatile thespian Sridevi bagged the best actor (female) award for her comeback film English Vinglish, while the best actor award was shared by Ranbir Kapoor for Barfi! and Farhan Akhtar for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Trupti Bhoir got a special mention as actor (female) for the Marathi film Touring Talkies produced by her and directed by Gajendra Ahire.
The best film award went to the film Kai Po Che!; which also bagged the best director award for Abhishek Kapoor and the background score award for Hitesh Sonik.
Among those who gave away the awards were the versatile Kamal Haasan, veteran filmmaker N Chandra, producer-director Sudhir Mishra, Tushaar Kapoor and Divya Dutta. Festival Advisor Manoj Srivastava was also present.
The programme presented by Kunal Kapoor and Huma Quraishi also included performances by the group Mati Baani, a World Music band combining elements of Hindustani Classical with various styles of Folk music and New age sounds
Ship of Theseus received the maximum awards: best debut director award for Anand Gandhi, the Jury award for best actor for Neeraj Kabi, the cinematography award for Pankaj Kumar, and the sound designer award for Gabor ifj. Erdélyi.
The special jury award was presented to Vishwaroopam for raising the bar of mainstream Indian cinema to an international level. The film also received the best editor award for Mahesh Narayanan.
Aditi Singh Sharma received the best female singer award for the title song in the film Heroine while actor-singer Ayushman Khurrana received the male singer award for the film Vicky Donor. The best music award was given to Pritam for the film Barfi! for his brilliant compositions.
Vicky Donor also bagged the best screenplay award for Juhi Chaturvedi.
Kaushal Oza won the best short film award for his film After Glow.
A special highlight of the festival was the presence of Max Lefrancq Lumiere, grandson of Louis Lumiere, who screened the first-ever films made by the Lumiere Brothers in 1895 in Paris. Irrfan Khan and Dilip Tahil were among those present.
A total of fifteen cities were covered by the 4th edition of the Jagran Film Festival, which marked one hundred years of Indian cinema.
The Festival commenced in Delhi in July and culminated in Mumbai from 24-29 September. In between it travelled to Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Agra, Meerut, Dehradun, Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Indore, and Bhopal.
The various sections included the Jagran Classics of Indian films to mark a centenary of cinema, international and national shorts, the country focus on Korea, and World Panorama, and Indian showcase.
The centenary celebration included screening of films like Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy , Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay , Bimal Roy’s Madhumati and Do Bigha Zameen, Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa, Mani Ratnam’s Nayagan, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anand, Vijay Anand’s Guide, K. Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam among others.
A special feature this year was Cinema for the Sellers – an Indian competition for Advertising Films.
Other sections include World Panorama, Indian Showcase, Indian Premieres, and Jagran Shorts.
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.
