E-time Cinema

e-Cinema - or digital distribution and exhibition of movies -- has just taken a step forward in India by satellite delivery of movies directly into theatres

Bobby Deol-starrer Kismet, slated for release later this month, could well become the first Bollywood movie to be digitally transmitted through a satellite to theatres in and around Delhi and several theatres in Uttar Pradesh.

The trial-run at Wave Multiplex theatre at Ghaziabad, near Delhi last week with a 40-minute screening of Tere Naam, heralded country’s first satellite delivery of digital content to an electronic cinema theatre. The film was downloaded as an electronic file – delivered through a satellite – to a server at the theatre, and then screened using a digital projector.

Satellite delivery of movies to theatre means doing away with a film reel that cost anywhere between Rs 60,000 and Rs 70,000 each. In comparison, making of a digital print and its transfer to a server at theatre’s end through a satellite comes to anywhere between Rs 8,000 and 10,000 per print. Physical transport of film reels - in aluminium cans - across the country through rail, road or air, may soon become a thing of the past.

Through the satellite mode, it takes around 6-8 hours to download a three-hour movie into the server at theatre’s end. It is then programmed by each theatre as per its screening schedule. Compare this to two to four weeks it now takes for film reels to travel to smaller towns and cities after doing the rounds in metros and Class A centres. Apart from delayed cash flow for producers and distributors, piracy and leakages in the system eats into box office collections.

With satellite distribution, a movie can now be simultaneously released in a large number of theatres across the country – a mofussil township like Kairna in Uttar Pradesh, Akluj in Maharastra, or metros such as Delhi or Mumbai alike. This means box office collections from smaller towns and centres are likely to go up several-fold. “Apart from catching the movie in the first week, there is sizable enhancement of movie viewing experience for the audience,” points out Rajeev Gupta of Wave Multimedia. Moreover, the print quality does not deteriorate with more shows.

Theatres have to invest in a digital projector, servers and Ku-band receivers to join the e-cinema bandwagon – a package that costs somewhere in the region of Rs 8 lakh and 10 lakh per screen. Digital distribution of films made a beginning in the country early last year through physical movement of hard disks across the digital cinema halls in the country that currently number around two hundred – all in the B and C class centres.

In the last one year over thirty Bollywood films that includes the likes of The Hero, Bhoot, Andaaz, Chalte Chalte, Koi Mil Gaya, and LoC, have been released in the digital format. This year’s biggest release, multi-starrer Khakee was screened with over 100 digital prints.

According to Pranay Panda of Hong Kong-based GDC Technology, the technology service provider for digital cinema, the country is like to boost of 1,000-digital cinema screens by end-2005. “The technology allows the distributor or producer to track not only the screenings but also ticket sales,” says Panda. GDC Tech plans to launch teleport facility in the country to give a further push to satellite-based delivery of digital movies in the country.

Mumbai-based Adlabs, one of the partners in the e-cinema project, now plans to convert some classic Hindi films into digital format and also showcase digitally treated dubbed regional films in smaller centers. Release of a Bollywood movie only in digital format in e-cinema theatres in the country may not be far off.

source:Timesofindia.com