What if you get a DVD of a movie without its theatrical release? You pity the producers and then there are three possibilities –
If you are interested, you purchase the DVD; if you are concerned, you report it to the Anti-Piracy Wing & if you are smart, you would download the movie from the internet!
But what if we say a filmmaker has released his movie through DVDs without a theatrical release? Yes, this happened in Tamil Nadu and it is none other Sharwanand & Nitya Menen starrer JK Enum Nanbanin Vaazhkai (Yemito Ee Maaya in Telugu) directed by Cheran (Na Autograph Sweet Memories fame). Going into the details, this movie was wrapped long back and hasn’t seen the light of the day due to lack of theatres and other reasons. So, shrewd Cheran decided to release the movie through DVDs directly without a theatrical release. He priced the movie at Rs 50/- per DVD and surprisingly, about 10 lakh copies were sold so far and the makers have seen a demand of 15 lakh more copies. According to an estimate, if the makers have sold these 25 lakh copies at Rs 50 per copy, the producers can make around a whopping Rs 12.5 crores which is indeed a dream run for a movie made on a budget of about Rs 4-5 crores.
The official print of the JK Enum Nanbanin Vaazhkai movie is also available for downloads through torrents, as per sources. Even the Telugu version Yemito Ee Maaya is also touted to have a similar DVD release here in Telugu market. Though it is an innovative method, a movie release of this kind is often viewed as a scar for any hero or director here.
Industry onlookers see it as a new revolutionary method of release but pundits opine that this mechanism also has its share of pros and cons. In an industry where piracy is one of the biggest challenges, there can be pirated copies of the movie sold out a much cheaper price which in turn makes it tougher to curb piracy. Kamal Haasan wished to introduced DTH release through Vishwaroopam and RGV has introduced a new distribution method through Anukshanam movie.
While all these remained good experiments teaching some valuable lessons, let us see what is in store for Sharwanand’s Yemito Ee Maaya!