Early years
Shemaroo Entertainment is an acronym for the founders’ surnames. The library was located at Warden Road in South Mumbai. Three branches were opened soon after.[5]
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.[6]
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.[5]
2000s to present
Shemaroo 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.[1]
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.[7]
In 2012, Shemaroo completed 50 years of operations. In 2018, the company unveiled a new logo and tagline ‘India Khush Hua’.[1]
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'). Swapnil Joshi is its Brand Ambassador. It airs Marathi movies like Aapla Manus, Thackeray, Bhai Vyakti Ki Valli, Judgement, Cycle, Ani Dr. Kashinath Ghanekar, etc.[8]
In 2020, Shemaroo Group also announced the launch of a new Hindi GEC Shemaroo TV.[9]
In May 2020, a video surfaced where the comedian Surleen Kaur made a remark about Krishna, a Hindu deity, which right-leaning media houses and political parties objected to. Following the controversy, Shemaroo announced their decision to refrain from any further involvement with Surleen Kaur and Balraj Syal because they 'failed to meet their standards of public decency'. Subsequently, ISKCON lodged a complaint against Kaur and Shemaroo with the Mumbai Police for insulting the organisation and Hindus.[10]
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.[11]
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.[12]
