MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures’ Jodhaa Akbar, which is directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar, is slated to premiere on television on 15 August. However, the movie’s home video has not yet seen the light of day.
Its satellite premiere and that too on a national holiday, is likely to make a dent into its home video sales. The rights were acquired by BIG Music and Home Entertainment for Rs 40 million (Rs 4 crores) in April this year.
Ideally, a film’s home video is launched six – eight weeks after its theatrical release and a few months before its satellite premiere. Over the last one year, the window for the home video and satellite release of films has been getting shorter and shorter. A substantial time lapse is kept between the film’s home video and satellite premiere so as to give the former a wider sales window.
Speaking to Businessofcinema.com, BIG Music and Home Entertainment CEO Kulmeet Makkar says, "Ideally, we would have liked to release the home video of the movie before the satellite premiere of the film but now we will be releasing it 10 – 15 days after it airs on television. The value of the home video definitely comes down after the satellite premiere but it is difficult to say at this point in time whether it will affect sales or not. However, our strategy is to promote the home video release of the film during the TV airing."
UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur adds, "Jodhaa Akbar home video is a collector’s item and we believe that the first airing on television is not going to affect its home video sales. It’s a product that people will want to own and keep."
Citing the reason for the delay in its home video release, Kapur says, "The home video has a lot of special features and we wanted to make sure that we give out the right product with the right quality. Hence the delay. However, the product has a life of its own and we believe that people will want to own it."
What’s more, UTV Movies will also be airing unseen footage of the film after the movie ends. This can be a further deterrent to the film’s home video sales, since these goodies are what makes the home video more appealing.
BIG Music and Home Entertainment will be pricing the Jodhaa Akbar VCD at Rs 149 and the DVD at Rs 399. Makkar informs, "We have priced the product at a premium but six months after we release the home video, we may bring the pricing down just like we did for Welcome."
UTV Movies will showcase exclusive unseen footage from the movie spanning 34 minutes, which wasn’t a part of the theatrical release. This will be introduced by Gowarikar. The movie will be premiered on 15 August at 11 am. It stars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the lead.
Along with the telecast of the movie, UTV Movies has also conceptualized a contest called Azeem-O-Shaan Mulaqaat. Viewers can participate in the contest during the telecast of the movie by answering a few questions and the winners would get to meet Gowarikar and members of the cast in person.
