Aamer Bijli, Nayana Bijli & Niharika Bijli

About

For Aamer, Nayana and Niharika Bijli—their childhood memories are stitched together with cinema halls, construction sites, birthday celebrations inside theatres and dinner table conversations that slowly shifted from films to the business of films. By the time they were old enough to choose their career paths, the language of exhibition, programming and distribution was already second nature. But instead of stepping into pre-defined roles, each sibling left home, gathered experience across the world and returned with a different lens on what India’s largest multiplex chain could become. For Aamer Bijli, who leads innovation, film marketing and digital programming, the biggest question is: what should the cinema of tomorrow look like? “It represents a reimagined movie-going experience, which caters to evolving preferences and technological advancements,” he says. His answer goes well beyond bigger screens. It includes better food, more immersive design, gaming, live events and technology that quietly improve customer experience. One of his biggest wins has been launching PVR INOX’s Dining Cinema initiative—a ‘restaurant inside a cinema’ concept that allows patrons to enjoy chef-curated meals at their seats—in Bengaluru. The format has delivered occupancies of 60-70%, irrespective of the movie being screened. While Aamer is focussed on the future of the cinema experience, Nayana Bijli is expanding what audiences watch inside those auditoriums. Her job is to decide which stories deserve an Indian audience, whether they originate in Hollywood, Korea, Japan or elsewhere. “There is an audience for a good, authentic story in India,” she says. “It doesn’t matter where it comes from.” She is also looking beyond films. Through a new initiative called Live on Stage, PVR INOX is experimenting with concerts, poetry readings, Qawwali performances and comedy shows inside cinemas. “It should not just be a movie destination. It should be an out-of-home entertainment destination... a cultural moment that drives you to the brand,” she says. For Niharika Bijli, strategy begins with storytelling. “I entered [a particular]film as an assistant and remained an assistant through the process. That’s how you have to learn,” she says. Within the company, she has helped shape cinema design and led programming initiatives that revived older films during the post-pandemic recovery. What started as an experiment with re-releases like Laila Majnu, Tumbbad and Rockstar soon became a powerful way to bring audiences back to the theatres, proving that nostalgia, when backed by data, could become a business strategy. “We are very bullish about the movie-going experience. Going forward, we want to make it more experiential, but also more accessible,” Niharika adds.