Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd. is an Indian content creator, aggregator and distributor, specifically in the media and entertainment industry. It was founded by Buddhichand Maroo in 1962 as a book-circulating library under the name Shemaroo. It set up India's first video rental business in 1979. The company went national after it began content distribution in 1987, became aggregators and bought rights to movies for home video.
Currently, the brand has a collection of over 3700 movie titles in multiple Indian languages and offers services to customers in over 30 countries including the US, the UK, Singapore, UAE and Australia.
The company's partners for content distribution include Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, YouTube, iTunes, Reliance Jio, Vodafone, Tata Play, DD Free Dish and DishTV (through one of its active service channels 'Evergreen Classics Active'). Shemaroo has offices in Mumbai, New Delhi and New Jersey.
History
Early years
Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd. was founded on 29 October 1962 as a book-circulating library by the Maroo brothers (Buddhichand, Atul and Raman) in collaboration with Gangajibhai Shethias. The name of the company is an acronym for the founders’ surnames. The library was located at Warden Road in South Mumbai. Three branches were opened soon after.
In 1979, they expanded to include video home system (VHS) tapes in their collection by partnering with affluent business families who had their personal collections of movies.
In 1987, the company forayed into content distribution via the VHS format, which was labeled Shemaroo Video Private Ltd. They also bought rights to several movies for home video and were one of the first brands involved in the distribution of video rights in India.
Shemaroo started buying cable and pay television rights in the 1990s. In 1995, the company bought an equity stake in Sony's Indian TV channel while negotiating a deal to buy films of Sony's Columbia Tristar.
2000s to present
Shemaroo became an integrated content media house with the commencement of Digital Post Production Facilities. The company ventured into film production with movies like Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye, Omkara, Ishqiya, Dedh Ishqiya and Hunterrr. These were followed by several others in the subsequent years.
The company forayed into digital animated films with Bal Ganesh and Ghatothkach as their initial features and became the only company to release a feature every year thereafter.
The brand also owns an online retro music channel, Filmi Gaane, which offers classic Bollywood songs from the 1950s to the 1990s.
In 2012, Shemaroo completed 50 years of operations. In 2018, the company unveiled a new logo and tagline ‘India Khush Hua’.
In January 2020, Shemaroo Group launched its first TV channel named Shemaroo Marathibana. It is a 24-hour FTA Marathi movie channel with the tagline 'Assal Filmi' (translated as 'Made for Entertainment'). The channel receives good TRP. Swapnil Joshi is its Brand Ambassador. It airs Marathi superhit movies like Aapla Manus, Thackeray, Bhai Vyakti Ki Valli, Judgement, Cycle and Ani Dr. Kashinath Ghanekar, etc. The free-to-air channel focuses entirely on Marathi audiences across Maharashtra and Goa and addresses their preferences through its catalog of over 200 titles.
In 2020, Shemaroo Group announced the launch of a new Hindi GEC Shemaroo TV. A free-to-air channel, Shemaroo TV targets the Hindi-speaking markets of India with the tagline 'Badalte Aaj Ke Liye.'
Shemaroo Pre-loaded audio speakers
In 2019, the company ventured into the pre-loaded audio speaker market and introduced Bluetooth speakers loaded with devotional content. The pricing for all three existing products in store (online & offline) – Bhagavad Gita, Bhajan Vaani and Quran Majeed And is available in the market currently with leading offline and online retailers.
In 2019, Shemaroo launched 'Shemaroo Bhakti Shri Ganesha Bhajan Vaani' during Ganesh Chaturthi, and 'Shemaroo Amritbani' on the 550th birth anniversary of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji
Business operations
Shemaroo's content library includes over 3,700 film and non-film titles. These include classic Bollywood movies such as Anari, Jab Jab Phool Khile, Neel Kamal, Amar Akbar Anthony, Dharam Veer, Roti, Khuda Gawah, Dil, Deewana, Beta, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke, Khakee, Kya Kehna, Dil Hai Tumhaara, 3 Deewarein and Chupke Chupke; more recent films such as Jab We Met, Ishqiya, Slumdog Millionaire, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, Omkara, Judwaa 2, Padmaavat, Pad Man, 102 Not Out and Soldier; and animated features like Bal Ganesh and Ghatothkach.