Kamal revises release plans, but says DTH future of cinema

Kamal Haasan had decided to premiere his Tamil film "Vishwaroopam", its dubbed Telugu version and the Hindi "Vishwaroop" on DTH a day before the scheduled theatrical release. But distributors were unhappy with the move and Kamal had to shelve that plan.

"The Hindi version is being released on Feb 1. It cannot be released on Jan 25 along with the Tamil and Telugu versions because 'Race 2' is releasing the same day," the actor-director-producer said on the new revised release plans.

The film stars Shekhar Kapur, Rahul Bose and Kamal who has also directed the film.

But he is as confident of the DTH premiere strategy as he was before he was compelled to bow down.

"Look at the success through the DTH of the new Richard Gere film 'Arbitrage'. It has collected double its theatre collections on DTH. DTH is the future of cinema. The postponement of my film's release gave me an opportunity to convince my film fraternity of the feasibility of DTH.

"Unfortunately, the advance bookings had already opened when we postponed. We had to say sorry to the disappointed patrons. But I have to tell you, the advance bookings were unprecedented. No one refrained from going to the theatres because of the DTH. The panic regarding DTH is prevalent all over the world."

As far as the DTH telecast is concerned, Kamal said: "The south Indian distributors and exhibitors have requested a four-day headstart for the theatrical release. I made it easier for them. The DTH telecast would now be on Saturday, February 2 following the theatrical release on Friday Jan 25."