In the latest development on the broadcasting of Kamal Haasan's new movie, Vishwaroopam, on the DTH platform before its theatrical release, Tata Sky has agreed to join the five other major DTH players to air the movie, said Haasan. With this, all the six private DTH players in the country would be airing the movie a day prior to the theatre release.
Haasan, the movie’s actor-cum-producer-cum-director, has said that he had been in talks with Tata Sky for some time and the deal was not through since there were some issues which has to be solved, “in order to maintain the ecosystem.”
Addressing a gathering of press members and various stakeholders in the film industry last night, Haasan said, “Some hours ago, Tata Sky also agreed to show the premiere and now the movie will be aired through the six DTH service providers.”
| COMING STRAIGHT TO YOUR LIVING ROOM |
|
He added that the earlier discussions with the company failed since it did not agree to some of the conditions put forward by Haasan. Haasan wanted the DTH player to disable its private video recorder facility and block commercial customers from accessing the one-time show.
“They did not agree with it while the other DTH companies did. After several meetings, Tata Sky informed me that they are also ready to air the movie, agreeing to comply with the demands,” he said.
More From This Section
He added that both conditions were put forward to protect the “ecosystem” that is healthy, with all the stakeholders from the film industry benefiting. “I have kept these conditions only to save the theatres and to take care of the ecosystem,” he added.
At present, there are seven DTH players including Doordarshan's DD Direct Plus, along with six other players — Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV, Sun Direct, Reliance Big TV and Videocon d2h, according to industry sources. Haasan earlier announced that five private players, excluding Tata Sky, had agreed with his production firm to broadcast the premiere of his new movie.
Some theatre owners' and distributors’ associations in Tamil Nadu have strongly protested against the move and said that they would not run any movies which has been broadcasted by DTH prior to their release.
On the other hand, several producers and theatre owners have come forward announcing support to Kamal Haasan's plan, saying that this was an experiment on cinema, which he was doing on his own risk and if proven successful, could benefit several others.
The movie is coming up with an investment of Rs 95 crore and has been produced by Raj Kamal Films International, Haasan’s production house.