Money Lessons: Why revisiting old movies in theaters is a smart investment

You shouted out all Gabbar Singh’s dialogues, you knew Viru would get drunk on the village water tank, and you held your best friend’s hand as Jai and Viru celebrated the song of friendship.

After watching Khosla Ka Ghosla, you travel on a local train, not caring about the strange looks from the people next to you because you smile to yourself.

You wore white to watch Taal…you cried silently in a theater packed with Guru Dutt fans, as Geeta Dutt’s voice sang “Wakt ne kiya kya haseen satam…” Everyone was going through it differently. pain…

When new movies fail to attract audiences to theaters, and OTT platforms suffer a similar fate, filmmakers and theater tycoons make money by re-releasing old favorites. Yes, when you don’t think twice before spending a thousand dollars or more on popcorn and coffee, there are valuable money lessons to be learned from the experience.

Investment and Speculation

What if you’re booking tickets on a Thursday night for a brand new movie that opens on Friday, hoping to get good seats at your nearest theater because you love the songs and the trailer and you want to watch your favorite star in the movie? Then you are an optimist, a hopeful person who believes that every movie is worth your time and money.

Some of you will be waiting for the weekend, word-of-mouth reviews, going online to see what your “community” is saying about the film, wondering if it’s worth the effort to watch it with a crowd, or waiting for the OTT platform to be established within eight weeks of the film’s release.

Both are sound financial attitudes. Go watch a brand new movie on your first day because you don’t trust other people’s opinions but your own, just like speculating with your money. Your risk profile suggests that you’re playing a high-return investment game because you’re taking on greater risk by investing your hard-earned money in something that hasn’t proven to be a bestseller yet.

If you are risk-averse, then you will wait for the market to evaluate the stock you care about and then invest in it. You might pay more (like you do when you go to the movies on the weekend), but you’ll get more in return.

“Old is gold” can also make money!

The National Film Museum of India in Mumbai screens restored film classics every Saturday. You watched Shammi Kapoor’s ‘Teesri Manzil’ and sang along with all your favorites but secretly you were dissing Asha Parekh by calling him ” Ei Mote” big shot was shocked. again and again…

Young people in the audience for “Sholay” wondered why the movie was so long, even though everyone else in the theater was chanting every dialogue out loud.

I had to go out of my way to see a screening of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and I was so grateful to have a front row seat to watch it, my neck was a little twitchy when I got home but I knew it was worth the experience.

You also invest your money in value stocks. A stock that was once undervalued by the market but has grown substantially over the years. You’re like Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham and Charlie Monger! They saw potential in certain stocks, and their patience and trust paid off.

That’s why movie theaters re-release old movies, because they know audiences will come back, for the caramel and cheese-wrapped nostalgia, to introduce old movies to a new generation, and yes, to bring back the little ones in a crazy world. of joy. So go ahead and find your list of favorite old movies and have 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 courses. You can contact her on Twitter: @manishalakhe.