Albela Beats Pirates At Their Own Game
Aseem Chhabra
After years of fighting video piracy, Bollywood film distributors in North America may have come up with a new strategy -- if you can't stop the pirates, beat them at their own game.
On Friday, April 20, Tips Music released director Deepak Sareen's Albela -- a film starring Govinda, Aishwarya Rai, Namrata Shirodkar and Jackie Shroff.
The film opened on 27 screens, a Tips spokesman said. On Sunday, April 22, Tips released more than 10,000 copies of the film's DVD. "We don't want the video pirates to release the film on DVD," Pranav Shah, the Tips spokesman, said. "We don't want the pirates to take over the share of market."
The DVDs are being sold in South Asian stores across North America, while the film continues its run in South Asian movie theaters, Shah said.
Bollywood buffs who like to see movies on a big screen can spend approximately $ 8 per ticket and watch Albela at their neighborhood desi theaters.
Others who wish to see the film in the comfort of their homes on the sharpest imagery that modern technology can offer, can buy a DVD for approximately $20. Either way Tips music should win.
In the recent past, film distributors in North America, including Eros Entertainment, Video Sound and Yash Raj Films, have raided stores suspected of selling pirated DVDs and videos tapes of new movies.
The strategy has been to discourage the stores from selling the pirated tapes, and to recoup the distributors' investment from movie theaters. That strategy was successful to some extent. Last year, for instance, when Yash Raj Films released Mohabbatein, it also conducted simultaneous raids on South Asian video stores, and confiscated pirated tapes and DVDs of older Yash Raj films.
As a result of the raids, pirated DVDs of Mohabbatein did not hit the market for at least a week after the film's release.
But at other times, distributors have not been that fortunate. Last month, quite unexpectedly, Eros had to cope with the pirated DVDs of its hit, American Desi.
Tips' strategy (which other distributors are also following) is an attempt to cut the influence of the pirates. However, the strategy's success is yet to be measured.
Albela is the second Govinda film to open this fortnight. Last week, Eros released director David Dhawan's Jodi No 1, yet another musical comedy. In addition to Govinda, who has acted in over 14 of Dhawan's films, Jodi No 1 also stars Sanjay Dutt.
While Jodi No 1 made a mere $ 82,000 in its opening weekend, Albela reportedly fared better. According to an estimate by Tips' Shah, Albela collected at least $ 120,000 from its first weekend run in North America.
Albela's stronger performance in North America can be attributed to Rai's star attraction, though the actress has not been able to replicate the success of 1999.
That year she had two monstrous hits -- Subhash Ghai's Taal and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Govinda has not had a major success since David Dhawan's Diwali 1998 hit, Bade Miyan, Chote Miyan.
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