KAMAL HASSAN's DTH Revolution for VISHWAROOPAM

Kamal Hassan is reportedly exploring the possibility of releasing his new Tamil film, Vishwaroopam, through telecast on a DTH platform on Thursday, January 10, before its full-fledged theatrical release. This is a new approach to publicity for the film and is a technique believed to create a positive word-of-mouth that will incite crowds to watch it at the cinema. The DTH operators telecasting this release would be Airtel, Dish, Videocom and Reliance while the film would have a simultaneous release in Los Angeles.

In a country where cinema-goers visit the cinema several times to watch their favorite hit film, this might be quite a strategy. Multiplex owners however are extremely worried this might negatively impact their business.

While skepticism from movie theatre owners may seem well justified, it remains to be seen if their fears are properly founded. A good film, and Kamal Hassan would seem very confident about his newest venture, just might make this experiment work.

The industry should watch closely and continue to attempt new ways of releasing films at a time when many blockbusters are sold as pirate DVD copies around town from the night of their release onwards. A release in both online and cinema platforms might be a solution, or maybe Kamal Hassan’s solution will spread like fire… May the film world keep closely watching.

Hrithik Roshan launches Virtual Academy of Cinema

Whistling Woods International has recently launched the first ever Virtual Academy of Filmmaking, which has created its first online course. Hrithik Roshan was present to launch the new programme. He praised the institution and expressed his admiration for all the people who are a part of it, from its creators to its students.

The actor additionally hosted a masterclass at the school. Approximately three hundred students attended the class and participated in a final Q&A session which gave them an insight into the star’s experience of cinema, how he has come to value each experience he has encountered in his profession and how he advices each and every student to be fearless in their approach to cinema.

Shah Rukh Star Power in Marrakesh

The Marrakesh International Film Festival met with an euphoric crowd of more than 50,000 people at the Jemaa el-Fna square for several hours as fans awaited Shah Rukh Khan to grace the event’s red carpet. The star seemed so moved that he braved his own security to wave at the thousands gathered there.

Indian cinema has a huge following in Morocco and throughout Africa, which also caused crowd incidents when in 2007 Shah Rukh Khan, accompanied by Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta and the late Yash Chopra visited France, a country where a large population of Moroccan immigrants has taken residence.

Prince Moulay Rachid later invited the star to a royal dinner and presented Shah Rukh Khan with the Medal of Honour of Morocco for his contribution to cinema.