Money Lessons: Why Rewatching Old Favorites in Theaters is a Smart Investment

You shout all Gabbar Singh’s dialogues, you know Veeru will get drunk on top of the village water tank, you hold your best friend’s hand while Jai and Veeru celebrate the friendship song.

You ride the local train after having watched Khosla Ka Ghosla, not caring about the strange looks from the people next to you because you are smiling to yourself.

You dress in white to see Taal… You cry silently in the theater full of Guru Dutt fans, each reliving different pains when Geeta Dutt’s voice sings ‘Wakt ne kiya kya haseen sitam…’

When new films fail to draw crowds to theaters and OTT platforms suffer a similar fate, filmmakers and film lovers are making money by re-releasing old favorites. And yes, since you don’t think twice before spending a thousand dollars or more on popcorn and coffee, there are valuable money lessons What to learn from this experience.

Investment versus speculation

If you’re booking your tickets on a Thursday night for a new release on Friday, are you hoping to get good seats at the theater closest to you because you loved the songs, the trailer, and you’re going to see your favorite star in the movie? Then you are among the optimists, the hopeful ones who believe that every movie could be worth your time and money.

Some of you will wait for the weekend, listen to word of mouth reviews, go online to see what your ‘community’ is saying about it, wonder if it’s worth the effort to see it in the crowd, or wait for the movie is released. an OTT platform in eight weeks.

Both are valid financial attitudes to maintain. Going to see a new movie on the first day because you don’t trust anyone’s opinion but your own is like speculating with your money. Your risk profile shows that you are in the high-reward investing game because you are taking on a higher risk by investing your hard-earned money in something that has not proven to be a bestseller.

If you are risk averse, then you will wait for the market to evaluate the stocks you are interested in and then invest in them. You may pay more (like you do when you watch movies on the weekend), but you’ll be rewarded more.

‘Old is Gold’ also works for your money!

The National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai shows restored film classics every Saturday. You watch Shammi Kapoor’s ‘Teesri Manzil’ and sing along with all your favourites, but are secretly dismayed that Asha Parekh denigrates a big person by calling him ‘Ei Mote!’ again and again…

The young people in Sholay’s audience wonder why the film is so long, even as the rest of the theater sings every dialogue out loud.

I had to fight to attend a screening of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and I was grateful to be able to watch it from the front row, returning home with a sore neck, but knowing that the experience was worth it.

You have also invested your money in value stocks. Stocks that were once underrated by the market, but have grown substantially over the years. you are like Warren BuffettBenjamin Graham and Charlie Munger! They saw the potential in certain actions and their patience and trust paid off.

That’s why movie theaters re-release old movies because they know audiences will come back, for candy-and-cheese-covered nostalgia, to introduce a new generation to old hits, and yes, to bring back small joys in a world gone crazy. So go ahead, find your old favorite movie listings, and enjoy a fun-filled weekend. You deserve it!

Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveler and founder of Caferati, an online writers’ forum that hosts Mumbai’s oldest open mic and teaches advertising, film and communication. She can be reached on Twitter at @manishalakhe.