Internet and Hindi Movies
A few years back, there were just a few options for a Hindi movie fan abroad to catch his favourite film.
a) In a theatre, if at all there was one nearby which plays hindi movies.
b) Find a DVD store nearby, generally a grocery cum DVD store and rent DVDs from them, if and when they have it.
c) Watch them online. This was the illegal way of watching the movies. There were some sites which streamed the latest films.
You had to pay about 10$ a month to catch those films. Generally in the student community here in the US, everyone knew the username/password to these sites and they could watch the latest films.
Then came Torrents and Google Videos. They allowed people to download/watch Hindi films for free. All that the torrents required was a good broadband connection and basic Torrent knowledge. There were ‘good souls’ who would rip CDs and DVDs and upload them on the internet for ‘poor souls’ like us to download. At the same time, sites which used to charge for streaming movies, cut down their cost, improved their security and started uploading the latest movies as soon as they came into the market(both pirated and legal market).
This phase was followed by the boom in the number of forums on the internet. Tens and hundreds of forums were started which used to provide streaming and downloadable TV serial and film content. They made money by popup and numerous other kind of ads which were present on their sites. More people looking for free content, meant more traffic which meant more money through ads plus donations by people who downloaded this free content.
The Indian Movie Industry then slowly woke up from its slumber and realised that there is a huge market on the internet in which the pirated stuff is flowing freely thus affecting their DVD sales. Google Video was warned and they promptly took off all the Hindi movies of their site. All you could then find on Google Videos were the music videos. But that was all they did. They never thought of providing movies to people through the internet. This was followed by the YouTube and Megaupload/Rapidshare wave and suddenly Hindi movies found a new home on the internet. They were either uploaded on the filesharing sites from where anyone could download the movies(much easier than the torrents) or they were uploaded in parts in Youtube.
It goes without saying that the Hindi movies available on the Internet were not legal. They were either the Cam(Recorded in theatre) prints or the ripped from Original DVDs. Either way, they were affecting the Indian Film Industry and their DVD sales. Till a few years back, Netflix didn’t have too many Hindi titles and anyways desi students in US(who form a big percentage of Desis in the US) were never the biggest Netflix fans.
To me, it was surprising that the Film Industry didn’t ever think about the potential market on the Internet which was closely related to the overseas desi market. They probably assumed that people could catch the movie in a theatre nearby or buy the DVD from a local store. This is particularly surprising because the distribution of theatres playing Indian movies and stores owning Indian DVDs was rather sparse. Therefore the big increase in piracy.
It is heartening to finally see the Film Industry waking up to this world and Rajshri Production leading this revolution. I call this a revolution because I do think that this market will become a big revenue generator for the industry seeing the increasing number of Indians going across the world and the rising interest in Indian movies shown by the NonIndian population.
For the uninformed, Rajshri started allowing people to stream/download the movies(best quality print) LEGALLY. They started by charging 10$ for their latest movie Vivah for live streaming or a 2-day download. They have been also been continuously uploading older movies on their site, charging about 5$ for downloading them while streaming viewing is free. This huge database includes their blockbusters like Hum Aapke Hai Kaun and Maine Pyar Kiya. They also tied up with UTV to release HatTrick on the internet with the same price structure. The biggest thing in this system was that the movies were releasing on the Internet the same day they were releasing in theatres. So people who didnt have access to the Cinemas could catch a high quality version of the movie the same day at the same price without having to wait for the DVDs.
Eros Entertainment is slowly following Rajshri in this field. They also have the latest DVD release available for download for 10$ and 3$ for 48-hr Rental. The only glitch is that these movies become available online for download/streaming only about a week after the DVD releases(in other words, about a month or more after the movie released in the theatres). They are also building their online movie database which people can download or watch streaming. Viewers can pay a fixed price of 10$ a month to watch/download 10 movies.
I think Rajshri who are the pioneers in this field have taken an almost unassailable lead as they have an infrastructure, a good movie database and growing band of loyal followers. They are the only ones who are releasing the movies on the same day as the theatrical release, which in my opinion, is the way forward. This way Rajshri is getting the money without any share going to the distributors(in case of Vivaah) which is better for them. The only real negative to this is that it does also end up helping Hindi movie pirates. In case of Vivaah, since the movie was available on the Internet, movie pirates paid for the movie, ripped it (instead of from the DVD) and then spread it. So, people had the movie available on the internet for free and the same quality. I havent seen that happening for HatTrick, so I am assuming that there was better encoding for this movie and they(movie pirates) werent able to rip it. The other thing going for Rajshri is that apart from Latest and Old Classic Hindi movies, they also have music videos(all the best ones), classic TV serials(Fauji, Mahabharat, Malgudi Days), Making of the Films, movie scenes, Classical Concerts, Documentaries and Short Films. Indian Short films really havent found a place on the Internet so far and with Rajshri providing a much needed impetus, this is bound to make this genre grow and make them much in demand. (I do recommend watching Right Here Right Now, a brilliant short available on Rajshri. Simple yet an amazing and a difficult concept to shoot.) Rajshri does need to increase the number of movies which they release on the Internet and at the same time get more recent movies in their movie database.
Eros, on the other hand has a better database of recent movies and they can beat Rajshri here. I don’t see their latest DVD release scheme as having much potential, since in a couple of weeks, those very ‘latest’ DVD Release become part of the recent movies database and thus part of their monthly movie scheme. Having said that, their monthly scheme can also beat Netflix easily, since downloading movies is way more convenient than ordering them and mailing them back.
This market acutely needs another player to enter this market, since that will
a) Result in more aggressive and realistic pricing.
b) Pricing according to the quality of the movie. Unsuccesful and offbeat films cheaper while blockbusters comparatively a bit more expensive.
c) More movies available for the film buffs.
d) Make a big dent in online piracy.
So for the latest Hindi Release and for the older classics, its Rajshri while for the more recent releases it is Eros.
Keep Watching!
PS. Google ‘Watch Hindi Movies’ or ‘Download Hindi Movies’ and you will not find either of these two sites coming up, only the illegal forums and torrent sites show up. This clearly shows that they need to advertise and promote their sites more aggresively as not too many people might be aware of their websites and services.
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Anything and everything can be ripped Anuj.
There will always be ppl with not so fast broadband connection and so there will always be that grocer/dvdwala.
And what about the fact that Moser Baer has started selling movie DVDs and VCDs real cheap. It can develop into something big.
sure vinayak… that may get more people in india to buy original DVDs than the pDVDs.
but outside….. its a diffrent story
with most good movies (unless its from the KJ/YC factory) having a limited release outside india, torrents/downloads it IS
And in my case getting phoren flix(unless they are Anaconda/Spiderman types)having almost no release in India,torrents/downloads it IS
good writeup. It is indeed surprising that indian film industry did nothing to promote the dvd and online market for movies.
when you login to netflix and search for old hindi classics..you see this common complaint for desi movies.. QUALITY…there are many people (of indiana and american origin) who have genuine interest in watching some indian cinema..but there is no easy way to get your hands on a DVD which will play without getting stuck…
poorly written subtitles is another issue which irks non-hindi speaking audience.
What a shame that i hadnt read this wonderful, exhaustive and interestingly written article, Anuj. Kudos for bringing this topic up =d>
I can relate to it so well. Me, lived in Alabama for almost 2.5 years had no source of Hindi movie. There was one desi store which carried pickles and haldirams but no movies untill the fag end of my course. The same Desi Store Paresh bhai would run one show in a Cinema hall once a month..no prizes for guessing the movies were…Veer-Zara, Koi Mil Gaya, et al. So, how do i watch movies? ENTER ILLEGAL downloads!! Should i be punished? Sure i should be, but give me one valid point to punish me.
Glad the face is changing now, and am proud to say the last pirated movie i saw was Black Friday in 2006…why? i had moved to NY and now Cali, no dearth of movies….
thanks for this article Anuj..jeeyo mere lal…=d>
Ever since I’ve moved to Australia – sub 2 years – I have been trying very hard not to give in to the temptation of buying and/or watching pirated movies. The desi DVDs that you get to buy here – two movies, sometimes three, on one disc – is all pirated.
If you are really anal, like me, about not watching pirated movies then you would have to get the original DVDs brought in by friends/family who are traveling to US, Malaysia, Singapore, and India.
Umm, yes. Most of them would laugh at you for being foolish – for wasting your money – and some secretly pity you for being silly. But end of the day it’s your money and they give a rat’s ass if you wanna waste it just being a stickler. Now, once you have the DVDs, there is no guarantee that your system shall be able to play/read the discs. Some of them discs are region locked. Most of the players are region locked too – unless you hack the stuff using the remote key-pad or upload some firmware to make it multi-region enabled.
In other words the legitimate buyers are being forced to break the system/law just because the stuff they buy ain’t worth the money and ain’t give the 100%.
Now, once you get the player to play the disc – the disc will freeze for the first one minute on the boiler plate warning legalese, which cannot be skipped. Then, if you happen to buy the disc in Australia, a very annoying info-advert starts playing – which, basically, is intended to convince the viewer about not pirating movies, but has an exactly opposite effect on the viewer. A) It cannot be skipped. B) It has annoying visuals and effing irritating BGM and C) you feel like blowing your brains out for having spent 20 odd dollars on an effing DVD and sitting there helplessly watching the DVD producer hijack your time. Which idiot came up with this idea – beats me – if someone is making illegal copies of the movie the first thing they’d probably do is to remove these most irritating ads and warnings and other macrovision shit. So why penalize the sucker who was actually dumb enough to buy the movie paying the exorbitant price, which, perhaps, has a 250% ROI on every disc.
Re the theatrical releases, most of the mainstream movies (read Hollywood) arrive at Sydney at least 6 months after their worldwide release. Some of the non-commercial cinema – Black Friday is a good example, I am yet to watch it – shall never reach these shores.
That said, the only saving grace is SBS, the public television, which, sometimes, plays some excellent world cinema. City Of God, Rififi, Malena, Infernal Affairs, Rashoman, Amelie, Dinner Game, Nattevagten, Les Rivi
@wb
so your stance is based on a no piracy principle?
or is it cuz of the low quality of the pirated dvds and the other ads and stuff u mentioned?
cuz if its just principle- kewl. for each their own.
but if its for the rest of the stuff, there are quite a few ways around all that to get good quality stuff. (but not desi though)
No subtitles on Rajshri :((
a very annoying info-advert starts playing – which, basically, is intended to convince the viewer about not pirating movies, but has an exactly opposite effect on the viewer. A) It cannot be skipped.
Oh! That really annoys me!!! x(
So why penalize the sucker who was actually dumb enough to buy the movie paying the exorbitant price, which, perhaps, has a 250% ROI on every disc.
Yes, I never understood that… :-?
// dpac – my frustration is at the entire dvd industry. they wish for a no piracy world – folks like me are fine with it for as long as i can manage. however, the quality of the pirated product (you get just the stuff you wanted sans all extra frills) and the disappointingly abysmal customer consciousness of the studios (i buy the disc to watch the movie, why block my access to it) makes this stance very difficult. that’s the point. now, i know there are ways and workarounds to get good quality pirated stuff – but movies are not marijuana – and one shouldn’t be made to go thru all this pain just for sake of ones passion. and that, my friend, is my point.
hi waere are free movies to download plzz!! tell me :d
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