Hindi
Picture Abhi Baki Hai makes mockery of Indian film industry
MUMBAI: Mere Dost Picture Abhi Baki Hai is about a man with dreams of lighting up the silver screen, making his own film some day; cinema is his obsession. While depicting the story of an aspiring filmmaker, the film takes a dig at the film industry and the way it works or rather worked till late last century. The problem is that in doing so it goes overboard and makes the mockery of the 100 year old Indian film industry.
As you watch the film, you don‘t know if it is a take, a satire, a farce on the film industry and even in doing that, its ideas are old fashioned when they talk of making a 25 week jubilee hit or a 100 day runner. Whatever it is, it is juvenile. The fact that the film has taken ages in making and its protagonists are out of contention with the moviegoer is another story.
Sunil Shetty is a film buff in Banaras who bunks classes as a child to watch movies and, when through, he starts a video library, more to satisfy his own urge to watch films from all over rather than as a business. He is always chided by his father, Rajiv Varma, for his ways for, like all middleclass families, he wants his son to take up normal work and settle down. Determined to make his cut as a director, Shetty goes to join the London Institute of Filmmaking to learn the craft. A Hindi film hero that he is, he excels and tops the class! He has also worked on a script, titled Cheekh, while learning direction in London, that of a real life story of a Mumbai investigative journalist who was raped for her adventurous exposes! Hence, instead of staying back in London and making a career there since he is a topper, he returns to India to make his mark. He has a friend in Rajpal Yadav, who claims to have contacts in the film industry but turns out to be just a junior artiste.
Since there is no story as such, the film spends its first part with Shetty knocking the doors of various producers, each an out of work per day artiste like Avtar Gill, Deepak Qazir, Gopi Desai, Dinesh Hingoo; all caricatures with some or the other idiosyncrasy; this is supposed to be funny which it is not in the least. Shetty finally finds a producer in a PRO cum fixer, Rakesh Bedi, who smells his chance to turn a producer with this script. The script is approved by the reigning box office queen, Udita Goswami, who sees a national award for herself with this film. Tenth day into the shooting and Shetty‘s producer, Rakesh Bedi, has vanished. It turns out Bedi was investing underworld don Shivaji Satam‘s money; the film is now taken over by Satam himself who dictates the terms to Shetty, that is still Satam is gunned down which makes Bedi to come out of hiding.
Bedi now wants to give a commercial touch to his film and in comes jubilee hit writer, Om Puri, who mixes and matches sequences as he goes on accommodating each of his star‘s demands. The film is complete finally, it is nowhere near what Shetty had in mind but it is a hit! Shetty has arrived; he joins the bandwagon giving up all his principles of making meaningful films.
So many films have been made on film industry in 1960s and 70s and most have failed to work; Mere Dost Picture Abhi Baaki Hai is the worst film on the workings of film industry ever made. The script is primitive and nowhere close to the workings of the industry and so is director‘s approach. Performance wise, Rakesh Bedi, Om Puri and, to an extent, Rajpal Yadav are watchable; rest just fill the bill.
Mere Dost Picture Abhi Baaki Hai is a lost cause from show one, day one.
Chalo Driver is cute but sans any twists
Chalo Driver would seem to be the result of finding new ideas and of being different. The film is about a restless girl, Kainaz Motivala, who is well educated, trendy and intelligent who can‘t settle in one job; she wants to do something challenging. That is when her roommate shows her a newspaper advertisement for the post of a driver; qualifications: graduate, well mannered, well dressed etc. Kainaz is convinced by her roommate that this is the different thing she is in search of, so what if she is a woman?
Kainaz lands up at the bungalow of the advertiser and joins the queue of those seeking the job only to be ridiculed and made fun of. However, she comes face to face with her to be employer, Prem Chopra, who has a couple of conditions for her as well as a hefty pay-packet and a bonus at the end of her term of six months, the minimum tenure she is expected to stay in the job.
Prem Chopra may be her employer but her boss, it turns out, is Chopra‘s grandson, Vickrant Mahajan, a stiff upper lip, upper nose and stiff neck as well. He is a tough nut to crack as a result of which he has sacked 48 drivers in 36 months. He has specifications for everything he expects his driver to know in that at what speed to drive where, setting of air-condition, not talking while driving, no music in car and so on. He tries all his tricks as well as Motivala‘s patience to make her give up her job; reason? He has had a bet with his grandfather that no driver can last with him for six months and Mahajan has never lost a bet.
Motivala decides to turn the tables on Mahajan and talks him into laying a bet with her as per which he would play the driver for two days and ferry her uncle and aunt around on sightseeing in Delhi. In the process Mahajan not only learns how unreasonable he has been with his drivers including Motivala but also falls in love with her.
Chalo Driver, a 93 minute fare, can be termed a cute theme but is made of a linear story sans any twists. Music is okay.
Chalo Driver lacks grossly on face value and promotion and has found no audience at most cinemas for its opening shows.
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.
