Newly released film Guru has the distinction of being the first Indian film to have its world premiere held in digital format.

Mani Ratnam’s Guru premiered on 11 January 2007, powered by Qube Cinema, at the Elgin Winter Garden Theatre, Toronto.

Ratnam’s quest for perfection and quality led him to evaluate digital cinema technologies for Guru, to achieve high quality Digital Projection and Digital Mastering. Operating directly from original Digital Intermediate files from post production studio – Prime Focus, where the film was digitally graded, Real Image showed Ratnam the impeccable quality that can be achieved with picture and sound.

Both Ratnam and his cinematographer Rajeev Menon achieved what they wanted – the full impact of their work on screen without any loss and with unmatched sharpness. Guru was digitally mastered from DI exclusively by Real Image on QubeMaster and a Hi-Definition transfer of this digital master was provided to other digital cinema providers as the source.

Guru is also India’s first film encoded on DCI specified JPEG2000 format for digital cinema – mastered and screened using Real Image’s Qube Cinema technology. With Guru, Qube also opens digital screening of Indian films in North America. Cinemas in Chicago and Detroit will screen an Indian film digitally for the first time.

Qube Cinema already powers over 50 screens in North America and is poised to reach over 300 screens soon.