MUMBAI: Venus Records & Tapes will be premiering its latest film, Kushti, online the same week the film releases theatrically in India.
This is Khali’s Bollywood debut after several appearances in Hollywood films that include The Longest Yard and Get Smart. Venus Records & Tapes joined hands with Saavn, a US-based Bollywood digital media and entertainment company, to premiere the film on YouTube and Hulu. "Kushti is a film that has real global appeal – a plot that transcends cultures and it features the international WWE star Dilip Singh Rana (Khali). We wanted to make the film easily available around the world and we were pleased that the team at Saavn was able to make this a reality," said Venus Records & Tapes Dilip Jain.
The film, directed by Rajeev Kumar, takes place in a northern Indian village obsessed with wrestling and holds an annual wrestling match to determine the village’s temple leader. The film also stars Rajpal Yadav and Nargis. Khali gets the key role of battling Yadav, in the wrestling ring for the love of Nargis. "Bollywood produces hundreds of films a year and has fans around the world but it’s just not feasible nor economical to distribute every movie theatrically in all markets. By making this film available online, Venus Records & Tapes is able to satisfy and monetize its global audience," said Saavn managing director Paramdeep Singh.
