MUMBAI: The world premiere of Mani Ratnam's Guru will take place in Toronto, Canada on 11 January, 2007 at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre. Roger Nair and Padamm Kumar, the overseas distributors of the film in Canada, are spending close to $ 100,000 to host this premiere. What's more, Guru will be the first Bollywood film to be screened in this auditorium. The last English film screened there was Lord Of The Rings.
Kumar has been associated with Nair since a long time now and together they have line-produced many Hollywood films, the latest one being Silent Hill. Recently they set up an entity to distribute Bollywood movies and Guru is their maiden project. "Today Bollywood content is universal not just for ethnic Indians but also for native citizens for every country across the world. Knowing Mani Ratnam's capability as a director it made sense for us to choose Guru. Besides, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan are also very popular amongst the Canadians. In Canada Guru is releasing in multiplexes like Canadawide Cineplex, AMC and Empire, where no other Bollywood movie has been released as yet. I am targeting Guru not only at the ethnic minority but also the native majority." Promotions of the film are already in full swing Kumar informs. He says, "Canadian Broadcasting Corporation will feature interviews of Mani Ratnam, Abhishek Bachchan and A R Rahman in newspapers and these will also be aired on radio on prime time slots." Roger Nair Productions has acquired the theatrical, video and TV rights of Guru for Canada thus ensuring every legal right to curb piracy with the help of the police and justice system. "I am guaranteeing you that Guru is not going to have a pirated DVD inside Canada at least," ensures Kumar. He plans to release the home video of the film three weeks after its theatrical release. Explaining his business venture in further detail Kumar says, "We are not going to release every other film in Canada. Our target is four to five films for 2007. Our aim is not to exploit the film like every other distributor but to create a market within Canada. I would be interested in films like Sarkar 2, Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay or Jodha Akbar. I want films, which have an Indian flavour in them." He further adds, "I am looking for a market in North America, Europe and the South Pacific. Our primary focus now is Canada, the US and the Caribbean, then we go to Europe and South Africa by the end of 2007 or beginning 2008. I am not looking at the UK market simply because I don't have infrastructure there to operate." On an average a film does a $1 million business in Canada. But for Guru, Kumar and Nair are hopeful that the film will help double their revenue to almost Rs 80 million (Rs 8 crore) and set a bench mark for future. http://www.businessofcinema.com/2006/26dec/guru.htm
