MUMBAI: Content powerhouse Shemaroo Entertainment has begun experimenting with a new format of ‘Roast Cinema’ in association with VKAAO, a joint venture of BookMyShow and PVR Pictures. The new movie series named Picture Ki Cheer Phaad will be released exclusively across PVR theatres in 20 cities in India.

The new series will see standup comedian Gaurav Kapoor roasting Bollywood movies in his unique style during the first phase of the initiative. On 1 February, the first movie is slated to release. The series will be horror thriller Papi Gudia.

“Shemaroo has been a close part of Bollywood’s cinematic evolution. With this new series, we aim to showcase the change through a humorous take on Bollywood movies. The quality of content has been in vast contrast with today’s Indian cinema, and Picture Ki Cheer Phaad will reflect the same with an added sense of humor. Our main aim is to entertain the audience, showcasing yesteryear movies in a comic way without hurting anyone’s sentiments. The industry has matured over the years and we hope this is enjoyed alike by the moviemakers and the audience of today who are always in search of innovative content,” Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd CEO Hiren Gada said.

Talking about the target audience of the show, Gada said although comedy format works for everyone, roast format has been working more in a younger audience. He also added that the youth audience have not even watched some of the movies from 80s or 90s. According to him, this is a funny way to connect to this audience.

“We have tied up with PRV VKAAO, they have supported us lot with in-theatre trailer placement. Apart from that, we have done marketing on few limited TV channels, digital media. Like I said, this an experiment and I hope this works. At this point, there is a limited release. It’s a national release in 20 cities but we will be releasing it on 40 screens. The marketing is more focused on theatre goer audience in those cities,” Gada commented on the marketing initiative.