The Hindu : Indian film in Internet distribution wave

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 11, 2003

National

National

Indian film in Internet distribution wave

By Anand Parthasarathy

Bangalore Dec. 10. Three weeks ago, the Hindi film `Supari' became the world's first feature film to be offered to end-customers for downloading from the Internet, using the emerging peer-to-peer technology. The Yash-Raj Films-distributed product, a Bollywood gangster drama starring Nandita Das and Rahul Dev, was offered for download from the popular Net file sharing resource, Kazaa (www.kazaa.com) at a cost of $ 2.99 (about Rs. 150). Since then, according to Sharman Networks which owns the web sharing operation, over 200 downloads of `Supari', have been sold. Meanwhile, two other films (one Australian, the other from Singapore) have joined the list. It appears that the world's largest cinema industry has also pioneered a whole new way of reaching customers in the Internet Age. "Selling the movie online is the next logical step for us," Supari's director, Padam Kumar, said. "And with a low budget movie it's a very cost effective way of reaching the masses."

To "buy" the film online, one has to download the Kazaa file-sharing software from the website. It is a free 6.9 megabyte download. The user is then offered a variety of music and video downloads, many free but some priced. Music album samplers, film trailers and other promotional material can usually be downloaded freely. Sharman has joined hands with Altnet, creators of a technology that protects such products and offers their owners a secure payment model.

This is seen to address the objections of two powerful bodies representing the leading music and movie companies — The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) - who have been vociferous in crying "foul" about the Net's burgeoning file sharing technologies. Last year, the RIAA succeeded in having the pioneer in this arena - Napster - shut down and forced into bankruptcy. Of course, Napster has been revived in a new payment-backed avatar.

Direct payment mechanism

Kazaa has remained the biggest peer-to-peer resource still in business, with some 60 million users. It has been able to do this by adapting itself cannily and trying to woo musicians directly by offering a payment mechanism, while encouraging them to put as much of their repertoire on the web for free. Its architecture also makes it a difficult target — legally: unlike Napster's model, Kazaa allows users to connect to one another without the aid of a central point of management.

The `Supari' initiative may persuade other Indian producers to try the Internet route to reach a wider audience amongst the huge Indian diaspora abroad. However, those who may be tempted to try their own download may need a fast broadband connection: `Supari' is a hefty 400 megabyte file.

"The Bollywood movie market is growing at twice the rate of Hollywood in terms of production and revenue," Sharman Networks' CEO, Nikki Hemming, said on November 13, when the company offered its first film on the Net.

`Supari' is Mumbai slang for a contract killing. The film may yet end up as the first product to exploit the ``killer application" that the Indian film industry was always waiting for, to go international.

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