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Sai Paranjpye donates personal archives to Archives of Contemporary India
Mumbai: Filmmaker and theater artist Sai Paranjpye has donated her collection of original handwritten drafts and screenplays to Ashoka University’s Archives of Contemporary India. This collection includes drafts and screenplays from her notable films, such as Sparsh (1980), Chashme Buddoor (1982), Katha (1983), Disha (1992), Papeeha (1993), and Saaz (1997). The director’s papers will be accessible to researchers and scholars studying her work and its influence on Indian cinema.
Additionally, the collection features her books like Aal Bel, Sakkhe Sezari, Manjhe Khel Mandu De, and Jaswandi, as well as children’s plays including Nana Phadnavis, Jaducha Shankh, Haravalelya Khellyanche Rajya, Shepticha Shap, and Patte Nagrit. Paranjpye is the first filmmaker to donate her personal collection to the archives, which already includes papers from various researchers, scholars, and professors.
Her papers offer insights into her development as a director and screenwriter, tracing the evolution of her ideas and serving as a valuable resource for those studying film history and the evolution of Indian cinema.
Ashoka University vice-chancellor Prof Somak Raychaudhury said, “It is a great honour to have Sai Paranjpye’s collection as part of our Archives of Contemporary India. Her work represents a pivotal chapter in Indian cinema, and having access to her personal papers will allow future generations of scholars to study and appreciate her profound impact on storytelling and cinema.”
To celebrate the addition to the archives, Ashoka University hosted an event on 17 October 2024, bringing together students, faculty, and cinema enthusiasts to honor Sai Paranjpye’s contributions to Indian filmmaking. The event included an interactive session with Paranjpye, where she shared her journey, creative inspirations, and insights into her career. The discussion provided a glimpse into her storytelling techniques and views on the evolution of Indian cinema.
The event featured a screening of Ābhāḷālā Gavasni (The Sky is the Limit), a Marathi film with English subtitles, based on a play/film envisioned by Paranjpye for the 80th birthday of astrophysicist Prof. Jayant Vishnu Narlikar in 2018. The celebration concluded with a screening of Disha (The Immigrants, 1990), one of Paranjpye’s award-winning films that examines the challenges faced by rural migrants adapting to urban life. The film’s narrative and themes resonated with attendees, underscoring Paranjpye’s focus on social issues in her works.
Paranjpye added, “When Ashoka University’s Archives of Contemporary India requested the manuscripts, I looked at it as an opportunity. What greater honor than to be represented in this prestigious university’s archives, to have one’s work so beautifully cataloged? It’s an unimaginable opportunity for me—truly my honor. To be cataloged alongside icons like Girish Karnad, Dilip Padgaonkar, and Suresh Kohli is a privilege beyond words. It’s wonderful to join that list.”
As the first major woman filmmaker of contemporary India, Sai Paranjpye is recognized for her contributions to cinema and theatre, particularly with films like Chashme Buddoor (1981) and Sparsh (1980). Her work combines humor, social insight, and empathy, addressing complex themes across various genres. Throughout her career, Paranjpye has received numerous accolades, including four National Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards. In 2006, she was honored with the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India for her contributions to Indian cinema.
Paranjpye said, “My advice to students would be to study the life around them and watch good films, both from India and abroad, as it provides a valuable learning experience.”
Sai Paranjpye’s collection, now part of the Archives of Contemporary India, includes original drafts of both released and unreleased works, providing a comprehensive view of her creative evolution. The collection will serve as a valuable resource for researchers, scholars, and film history enthusiasts, offering a learning platform for aspiring filmmakers to master essential filmmaking skills, including direction, screenplay, and storyboarding.
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.
