Sitting under a big tree with two friends somewhere in South Africa, during a backpacking trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town, Ashish Hemrajani came up with the business idea that freed Indian movie buffs from the eternal tragedy of standing in long box-office queues. Big Tree Entertainment was born and along with it was bookmyshow.com. Ashish laughingly comments, “Today, people tell me it was like the Buddha getting his enlightenment, but when I came back and quit my advertising career – people thought I wasn’t that enlightened.” The twist of the tale lies in how Ashish is actually not a movie buff. As he says, “I watch maybe 12-18 movies a year. It’s the reaction of people during and after the movies that I really enjoy. People whistling in the stalls when the hero walks in, or the crunchy taste of popcorn comforting you during pensive scenes, the fizzy soda to cheer along the funny scenes.”

Yet a man needs his hobbies and Ashish has his own: “Sailing takes up pretty much most of my weekends with races from October to April.” So if you are wondering what is next from this innovator’s hat, the answer is we all will have to wait a while. “There is so much more to be done with bookmyshow and we are at the cusp of exponential growth. We are exploring many ideas for bookmyshow and they consume all my energy and time right now.”

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