iWorld
ShemarooMe taps into OTT boom with movies and regional content
Mumbai: ‘Warning: Graphic Content’ – because the mind is inclined to do exactly what it’s warned against, and a picture so captioned is sure to attract the viewers’ attention.
ShemarooMe’s recent social media campaign recreated iconic scenes from the movies and ‘graphically’ used the lens of charts and reports to come up with quirky infographics making people smile. Behind the campaign’s minimalistic execution was a deeper insight that stems from Shemaroo’s over five decades of experience and expertise in dealing with content. It also forms the basis of the Company’s content strategy which has crafted the unique ‘movies-devotional-regional’ proposition for the brand in the Hindi web series-dominated Indian OTT space.
Shemaroo Entertainment’s head of marketing, Rahul Mishra tells us that close to 60 per cent of the content on ShemarooMe, which is the OTT platform of the content powerhouse- is movies, with the rest being dominated by devotional and regional (Gujarati). In fact, the brand’s foray into Originals began with Gujarati web series in April this year. Coming back to the movies, Mishra reiterates that it will continue to be the mainstay for ShemarooMe.
“We believe that there is a huge OTT opportunity in India where the audience is seeking different forms of content. However, a large number of them want content that is familiar in terms of the format and presentation. That’s why movies and Bollywood continue to be relevant, and that’s also where our strength lies,” he says.
The Content Conundrum and Nostalgia Economy
Mishra shares that dealing with content over decades has given Shemaroo the understanding that while new formats are instantly picked up for consumption, their popularity wanes after a certain time period. On the other hand, the consumption of an established piece of content that is known to the audience not only stays steady but increases consistently. He cites the example of Shemaroo’s YouTube channel, ‘Shemaroo Filmy Gaane’ to support his stance. With a following of 54.8 mn, the retro music station is among the most subscribed channels.
The ‘Warning: Graphic Content’ campaign is one of the many such efforts by the brand to familiarise the youth with stories and characters that are timeless. Mishra points out that “the familiarity of content and affinity to a particular content piece keeps bringing the viewers back to it again and again, and this has led to the creation of the self-driving/sustaining ‘Nostalgia Economy’.
Building on its huge library of classics as the foundation, ShemarooMe has been bringing in innovative approaches to further the OTT ecosystem ever since its launch in 2019. With regard to films, the brand introduced a TVOD service called ‘ShemarooMe Box Office’ during the lockdown wherein it replicated the theatrical model by bringing in movies every Friday. These included small-budget titles such as ‘My Client’s Wife’, The Least of These’ and ‘X Zone’ that were struggling for a release on account of theatres remaining closed. ShemarooMe also collaborated with the online ticket booking website BookMyShow for this initiative. While the model was born out of necessity, nearly ten films were released under it.
Meanwhile, ShemarooMe came up with a more robust offering, ‘Bollywood Premiere’ which involved world digital premieres of movies coming straight out of the theatres, either after running their due course or prematurely, but not exposed to the audience on any other medium including television. These included the likes of ‘Amma ki Boli’, ‘One Day Justice’, ‘Paharganj’, and ‘Door ke Darshan’. Mishra proudly declares that his team has successfully managed to keep ‘Bollywood Premiere’ running for 100 weeks uninterrupted in these unprecedented times when content production has become a big challenge.
The regional-first approach to Originals
ShemarooMe’s Originals journey began in April this year, with its first regional expansion happening in Gujarat. Being in the Gujarati content acquisition business for over a decade, the Company has established itself among the leaders in the space. Although, it hasn’t dabbled in Hindi originals yet.
According to Mishra, “the two significant features of the Gujarat market are its major overlap with Hindi and the underdeveloped content ecosystem. This translates into a huge opportunity for us. Our mission in this market is a fairly large one; we want to grow the industry by making Gujaratis fall in love with Gujarati entertainment once again.”
ShemarooMe has been aggressively pushing the brand in the state, with one of its brand ambassadors in the market being Gujarati film and theatre artist Malhar Thakar. The app was launched with a direct-to-digital release ‘Swagatam’ which featured Thakar. Ever since ShemarooMe has kept up with the promise of bringing a fresh piece of content every week across formats and genres. The three pillars of the platform’s content strategy for Gujarat include movies (direct-to-digital or digital premieres), original web series, and ‘nataks’ (plays).
Commenting on the significance of ‘nataks’ in the market, Mishra informs that plays have traditionally been part of the family viewing experience for a Gujarati household on weekends. “In the big cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara, and also in Mumbai which has a fairly large Gujarati population, there are auditoriums dedicated to running ticketed Gujarati plays. This is an inherent part of Gujarati culture. While some of these plays are based on authored content, most are slice-of-life with a strong element of humour which resonates with the Gujaratis who are known for their funny side,” he remarks.
Shemaroo has been in the business of filming Gujarati plays and making them accessible for people to watch on their preferred medium – TV, YouTube, and now OTT. Currently, there are over 250 plays on ShemarooMe, and more shoots are being commissioned constantly.
On the business side of things, ShemarooMe has largely been a subscription-driven service so far. Even as the relevance of branded content grows, it has no plans of exploring the advertising model yet. “Given the affluence of Gujarat, many national and regional brands want to associate with us for branded solutions,” asserts Mishra. He is confident that even with the foray into original productions the strategy will work for them in the near-to-mid-term future.
Gaming
India’s new online gaming rules take effect today, banning money games and creating a regulator
The rules, in force from today, separate e-sports from gambling and impose jail terms and stiff fines on violators
NEW DELHI: India’s online gaming sector woke up this morning to a new reality. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Rules, 2026, came into force today, May 1st, turning a year of legislative intent into enforceable law. The message from New Delhi is blunt: e-sports and social games are welcome; online money games are not.
The rules operationalise the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming (PROG) Act, passed by Parliament in August 2025. Together, they represent the most sweeping regulatory intervention India has made in its booming digital gaming market, one that generated Rs 23,200 crore in 2024 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 11 per cent to reach Rs 31,600 crore by 2027. The stakes, in every sense, could not be higher.
A sector out of control
The urgency behind the legislation is not hard to find. An estimated 45 crore Indians have been affected by online money gaming platforms, with losses exceeding Rs 20,000 crore. Addiction, financial ruin, money laundering, and suicides have all been linked to the sector. Seventy-seven per cent of the market’s revenues came from transaction-based games, a figure that made regulators deeply uneasy.
The government’s response, effective as of today, is categorical. Online money games, whether based on chance, skill, or any mix of the two, are banned outright. So is their advertising, promotion, and facilitation. Banks and payment processors are barred from handling related transactions. Unlawful platforms can be blocked under the Information
Technology Act, 2000.
The penalties are designed to sting. Offering or facilitating online money games can attract up to three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 1 crore, or both. Repeat offenders face a minimum of three years, extendable to five, with fines between Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore. Advertising such games carries up to two years in prison and fines of up to Rs 50 lakh, with repeat violations attracting higher penalties still. Cyber cell officers at state and union territory levels, including at police station, district, and commissionerate levels, are empowered to investigate offences.
The new sheriff in town
At the centre of the new framework sits the Online Gaming Authority of India, a digital-first regulator constituted as an attached office of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, headquartered in Delhi. It is chaired by the additional secretary of MeitY and includes joint secretary-level representation from home affairs, finance, information and broadcasting, youth affairs and sports, and law and justice, a deliberately multi-sectoral design built for a complex sector.
The authority’s powers are broad. It will maintain and publish lists of online money games, investigate complaints, issue directions, orders, and codes of practice, hear appeals on user grievances, and coordinate with financial institutions and law enforcement to ensure effective and timely action.
Its decisions on game classification are to be completed within 90 days, a time-bound commitment that industry players have welcomed after years of regulatory ambiguity. Classification can be triggered by the authority acting on its own initiative, by an application from a service provider, or by a notification from the central government. Games will be assessed on objective factors: whether stakes are involved, whether players expect monetary winnings, the revenue model, and whether in-game assets can be monetised outside the game. The outcome is recorded in a determination order specific to the game and provider.
E-sports gets its moment
While the crackdown on money gaming dominates today’s headlines, the rules also carve out a structured path for e-sports and online social games. Registration, required when notified by the central government, applies to all games offered as e-sports and is based on factors including risk to users, scale, financial transactions, and country of origin. A successful application yields a digital certificate of registration with a unique number, valid for up to ten years. Service providers must display registration details, designate a point of contact, comply with data retention requirements, and follow directions on facilitating payments.
Online money games are explicitly ineligible for recognition or registration as e-sports under the National Sports Governance Act, 2025. The separation is deliberate, and the industry has noticed.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, called today’s operationalisation “encouraging,” pointing to publisher-led registration of esports titles and a time-bound determination process as creating “much-needed certainty for all stakeholders.” He added that the “continued emphasis on clearly separating esports from online money gaming is critical in preserving the integrity of competitive gaming as a skill-driven discipline.” He described it as “a proud moment to see official acknowledgement of the broader benefits of responsible esports and gaming, from building confidence, discipline, and teamwork to creating new career pathways for young talent,” and said the framework sets “a strong foundation for the ecosystem to scale in a more structured and globally competitive manner.”
Animesh Agarwal, co-founder and chief executive of S8UL, was equally bullish. “This clarity is critical in unlocking investor confidence and attracting multi-genre brands, while also enabling organisations to take a more long-term view, whether in investing in talent, scaling teams, or building globally competitive formats,” he said, adding that it “strengthens trust among audiences and mainstream stakeholders, positioning esports not just as a sport, but as a fast-growing youth entertainment category in India.”
But Agarwal urged caution on several fronts. There remains limited clarity around financial frameworks, particularly in how esports earnings are treated by banks and financial institutions. A well-defined pathway for the formal recognition or registration of esports teams is still evolving, as are structured player protections. He also called for smoother visa processes for esports athletes competing in international tournaments and for government support in developing infrastructure, including bootcamps, training facilities, and access to high-performance equipment across titles.
Vishal Parekh, chief operating officer of CyberPowerPC India, pointed to downstream effects on education and careers. “With formal recognition and policy backing, colleges and institutions are more likely to take the sector seriously, whether through dedicated esports infrastructure, training programmes, or curriculum integration,” he said, adding that this helps students view gaming as a viable career spanning roles across competitive play, content, game development, and allied industries. He noted that as esports gains prominence in global multi-sport events, the framework strengthens India’s position in international competitive gaming, and called on the ecosystem to provide the right infrastructure and access to high-performance hardware to unlock opportunities in talent development and job creation.
Protecting users, one safeguard at a time
The rules introduce a layered system of user protections calibrated to the risk profile of each game. These include age verification, age gating, time restrictions, parental controls, user reporting tools, counselling support, and fair-play and integrity monitoring. Service providers must disclose their safety features and internal grievance mechanisms when applying for determination or registration.
A two-tier grievance redressal system sits atop these safeguards. Users who are dissatisfied with a platform’s resolution can escalate to the authority within 30 days. The authority aims to dispose of such appeals within a further 30 days. A second appeal lies before the secretary of MeitY, who must also endeavour to resolve matters within 30 days. Enforcement proceedings will be conducted in digital mode wherever possible, with cases targeted for resolution within 90 days from receipt of a complaint.
Penalties under the framework are proportionate, taking into account gain from non-compliance, loss to users, the gravity of the offence, and whether violations are recurring. Mitigation efforts by service providers will also be considered when determining penalties. All penalties imposed under the Act will be credited to the Consolidated Fund of India.
The money follows the rules
For investors and founders, the implications are immediate and significant. Sagar Nair, head of incubation at LVL Zero Incubator, a 100-day sprint designed to accelerate early-stage gaming startups across India, argues that with real-money gaming now prohibited, capital will shift “away from transaction-driven models toward content-led, IP-driven, and global-first gaming businesses.” He acknowledged trade-offs: for operators with exposure to real-money formats, the market becomes more restrictive in the near term. But he argued that by clearly separating esports and non-money gaming from online money gaming, “India is positioning itself as a hub for responsible, creative, and scalable game development.” The opportunity, he said, is “to view India not just as a monetisation-first market, but as a talent, IP, and scale market,” adding that “for founders and investors willing to adapt, this shift could ultimately strengthen India’s position in the global gaming landscape.”
The government frames the wider impact in equally ambitious terms: a boost to India’s creative economy and digital exports, new career pathways for young people, protection for families from predatory platforms, and a stronger voice in global digital governance. India, it argues, offers a model for other countries grappling with the same tensions between gaming’s economic promise and its social risks, one that shows innovation and strong safeguards need not be mutually exclusive.
Whether the framework delivers on those promises will depend on enforcement, always the hardest part. But from today, the architecture is firmly in place: a regulator with teeth, a classification system with deadlines, penalties designed to deter, and a clear dividing line between games that build careers and games that destroy finances. For a sector that has grown fast and governed itself loosely, May 1st, 2026 is the day the free ride ends.
