Booking a movie or event ticket was once a process that often involved standing in queues, making phone calls or visiting a ticket counter. Ashish Hemrajani saw an opportunity to make that experience more convenient through technology.
His entrepreneurial journey began with a small entertainment-related idea and eventually developed into BookMyShow, one of India’s best-known online ticketing platforms.
An Unexpected Beginning
Ashish Hemrajani studied at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai and later completed an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Before becoming an entrepreneur, he worked in the corporate world.
The idea that eventually became his business emerged from an everyday problem rather than a traditional business plan.
In the late 1990s, Hemrajani noticed how difficult it could be for people to discover and book entertainment events.
The internet was still relatively young in India, but he believed it could simplify the process.
Starting BigTree Entertainment
In 1999, Hemrajani founded BigTree Entertainment with the aim of building businesses around entertainment information and ticketing.
The early company experimented with different ideas as the online market developed.
One of its important initiatives was a ticketing service that allowed customers to access information about movies and entertainment events.
The concept was still new at a time when many consumers were unfamiliar with online transactions.
Changing the Ticketing Experience
Traditional ticketing involved several limitations.
Customers had to travel to a cinema or ticket counter, wait in line and depend on available information at the venue.
An online platform could bring information directly to the customer.
Users could explore movies, compare showtimes and select seats before arriving at the cinema.
This changed ticket booking from a physical transaction into a digital experience.
The Rise of BookMyShow
The company eventually developed the BookMyShow brand.
As internet access expanded and smartphones became more common, online entertainment booking became easier for a much larger audience.
BookMyShow expanded beyond cinema tickets into live events, plays, sports, concerts and other forms of entertainment.
The platform increasingly became a single destination for discovering and booking experiences.
Technology Meets Entertainment
The business was not simply about selling tickets.
A major part of the platform involved helping customers discover what was happening around them.
Search, showtimes, seat selection, payment systems and digital confirmations all became part of the experience.
For entertainment companies, online ticketing also offered a more efficient way to reach customers and manage bookings.
This created value on both sides of the marketplace.
Building Through Changing Consumer Habits
BookMyShow’s development coincided with a major transformation in India’s consumer technology landscape.
Internet connections became faster.
Smartphones became affordable.
Digital payments became increasingly common.
Consumers who once hesitated to make online purchases gradually became comfortable buying everything from travel tickets to movie seats through their phones.
The company benefited from this broader shift while continuing to develop its entertainment-focused platform.
Expanding the Experience
Over time, BookMyShow moved beyond conventional cinema ticketing.
Its platform began featuring concerts, theatre productions, sporting events and other live experiences.
This expansion reflected a broader understanding of entertainment.
People were not simply buying seats. They were searching for experiences.
By connecting discovery and booking, the platform could participate in multiple stages of the customer’s decision-making process.
Lessons From the Founder
Hemrajani’s entrepreneurial journey highlights several important ideas.
Everyday inconvenience can become a business opportunity. The original problem was straightforward: make entertainment ticketing easier.
Timing matters. The company entered online entertainment before digital commerce had become mainstream in India.
Consumer trust develops gradually. Building an online ticketing business required customers to become comfortable with digital payments and reservations.
Platforms can expand with changing habits. BookMyShow evolved as consumers began seeking different kinds of entertainment online.
From Ticket Counters to Smartphones
Today, opening an app and booking a movie or event is an ordinary part of urban life.
That convenience was not always available.
Ashish Hemrajani’s journey shows how technology can transform a familiar offline process without changing the underlying product.
Movies, concerts and sporting events already existed. The innovation was creating a simpler bridge between audiences and those experiences.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, the story offers a practical lesson: businesses do not always have to invent something entirely new. Sometimes, the opportunity lies in taking an existing activity and making the experience faster, simpler and more accessible.
