Theatres out, B'wood heads home

Mumbai: Watching your favourite flick at home could now be as inexpensive as buying a bag of popcorn at the multiplex.

Moserbaer, the manufacturer of audio equipment, announced its foray into the Bollywood home video segment by offering titles for as cheap as Rs 28 (VCDs) and Rs 34 (DVDs).

Initially the company focused on South India by launching their CDs in Tamil, Malayalam, Kanada.

In the second phase, the company has set their eyes on 101 popular Hindi titles such as Baazigar, Khakee, Aankhen, Vaastav, Ghayal, Betaab, Biwi No 1 and Qurbani. The company has also launched a new film Kudiyon Ka Zamana on VCDs.

At a star-studded evening in suburban Mumbai, Chief Executive, entertainment business, Harish Thayani, remarked, “ In a country like ours the percentage of people who can view movies in theatres is very small. For a majority of the people watching movies at home is the only option. However, the high price of DVDs results in a limited market.”

With Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar playing the role of chief guests, Chunky Pandey, Akbar Khan, Suchitra Krishnamurthy, lyricist Sameer, Roop Kumar and Sonali Rathod, Pankaj Parasher and actor Ranjit in attendance, Thayani, had no dearth of support for his enterprise.

Singer Sadhana Sargam and percussionist Sivamani performed at the event. As Ranjit put it, “ This drastic reduction in prices will lead to a reduction in the piracy trade. This is good news for the film industry”.