India loves its films and produces well over 1,500 annually across languages. While there isn’t a shortage of stories, makers, or audiences, financing has remained opaque and fragmented, with projects typically funded through studios, producers, private financiers, pre-sales, and individual investors.
British Virgin Islands-based entertainment-investment platform CineNow is now looking to change that equation by bringing a portfolio-based investment approach to cinema. “The broader mandate is approximately ₹1,350 crore across more than 30 films over six years,” says CineNow founder Rohit Dalmia. “We have already received more than 3,000 scripts and projects,” he adds.
A crucial part of the platform is tokenisation. “The film and its underlying intellectual property remain with the filmmaker or production partner. What can eventually be tokenised is the investor's participation in the investment structure,” the founder explains.
Looking to deploy about 60 per cent of the funds into regional cinema, it all boils down to whether a project understands its audience and whether its cost is proportionate to the size of that opportunity. “Hence, a ₹200 crore Hindi film can be an attractive investment, and so can be a ₹5 crore Malayalam film.
In an interview with THE WEEK, the founder talks about why he believes cinema financing needs a portfolio approach, who greenlights the project, and the guardrails in place since films come with a social responsibility.
Edited excerpts:
Q. Can you explain CineNow as a platform? Did you see any gaps in how cinema financing currently works?
India does not have a shortage of stories or filmmaking talent; it has a gap in the financial infrastructure connecting capital to those stories.
India's media and entertainment industry reached approximately ₹2.78 trillion, or $32 billion, in 2025, with over 1,900 films released. Yet film financing remains largely project-led and relationship-led through studios, producers, private financiers, pre-sales, and individual investors rather than portfolio-led institutional capital.
That is the gap CineNow is addressing.
We are an entertainment-investment platform designed to bring the disciplines used in private equity, infrastructure or other alternative investments into film financing: portfolio construction, formal underwriting, governance, rights diligence, milestone-linked deployment, and transparent reporting.
The broader mandate is approximately ₹1,350 crore across more than 30 films over six years. We have deliberately not treated the entire corpus as money that must immediately be put to work. Around 60% was committed initially.
In the first phase, we are therefore working with up to approximately ₹500 crore and building the asset pipeline before scaling further. We have already received more than 3,000 scripts and projects through the platform. We are working to connect that creative opportunity with structured capital.
Q. Who are the investors? Has this model worked elsewhere?
Our initial investors broadly fall into three categories: venture capital investors, hedge funds, and family offices. As the platform develops, we expect the investor base to expand towards other sophisticated and institutional investors looking for differentiated exposure to entertainment and intellectual property.
Capital is spread across more than 30 potential films, multiple genres, languages, budgets and revenue windows. One film may outperform theatrically; another may monetise particularly well through OTT or international rights; another may create long-tail franchise or remake value. The investment thesis therefore does not depend entirely on one opening weekend.
This concept is well established elsewhere in finance. Private-equity investors do not normally place an entire fund into one company; real-estate funds do not necessarily own one building; venture funds diversify across companies because individual outcomes are uncertain. We are applying that portfolio logic to entertainment IP.
Q. Who decides where the money goes? How do investors know what is happening with their capital?
This is one of the most important differences between CineNow and traditional relationship-led film financing.
Capital deployment is governed through a formal Investment Committee and specialist evaluation process, rather than by one producer, financier or founder deciding that they “like” a film.
Our current Investment Committee brings together people with backgrounds across content, production, platforms, distribution and finance, while the broader CineNow structure includes specialist functions across content and IP, talent packaging, slate finance, production, exhibition, rights monetisation, compliance and governance.
Q. CineNow also talks about tokenisation. How does it work in cinema?
We are not trying to turn a movie into a cryptocurrency.
The film and its underlying intellectual property remain with the filmmaker or production partner. What can eventually be tokenised is the investor's participation in the investment structure.
At the bottom sits a portfolio of entertainment investments. Those films generate economic value through theatrical, OTT, satellite, music, international distribution and other rights. Investor participation in that portfolio can then be represented digitally through tokenised units, subject to the appropriate legal and regulatory structure.
Q. What kinds of stories, genres and languages are you looking to invest in?
Story is the star of the film at CineNow. We are especially interested in local stories, those that connect with the common man.
We expect approximately 60 per cent of CineNow's deployment to be directed towards regional cinema, including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Punjabi and Gujarati, alongside Hindi.
We are looking at whether a project understands its audience and whether its cost is proportionate to the size of that opportunity. A ₹5 crore Malayalam film can be an extremely attractive investment if its realistic addressable market supports that budget. A ₹200 crore Hindi film can also make sense if its domestic, international, and ancillary revenue opportunity justifies the capital.
Q. Cinema can have a powerful social impact. What guardrails ensure CineNow does not finance content that could be detrimental to society?
There are two principles we have to balance: creative freedom and responsible capital allocation.
CineNow is a financier, not a censorship body, and I do not believe an investment platform should dictate what filmmakers are allowed to say simply because it is providing capital.
At the same time, institutional capital cannot operate without legal, reputational and commercial risk controls.
Projects are evaluated not only on script quality but also on intended audience, production context, rights position, distribution prospects and identifiable legal or reputational risks.
The guiding principle remains that strong filmmakers should retain the freedom to tell compelling stories, while investors should have confidence that the capital behind those stories is being governed responsibly.
