World
Cinema was notoriously hard
to come by in India until
some five years ago. A scenario
familiar to most film aficionados
here is swapping each other’s
collection of foreign cinema
in the hope of finding a Kurosawa
or Truffaut or Bergman that
you didn’t already have.
The only way to see contemporary
world cinema was to sneak
into film festival without
credentials! Roughly around
2006 the video pirates became
savvy to customers itching
for world cinema and began
rolling out 5 in one Kurosawa/Kieslowski
DVDs. The excitement lasted
only until we discovered the
discs were dying on us. They
would freeze suddenly, or
play only three of the five
films, get grainy and fuzzy,
and finally after a few plays
and a few scratches later,
your DVD player would flash
the following message: ‘Insert
a Disc’ –even
though you just had.
DVDs of this quality are okay
for trashy Hollywood movies
but for masters of world cinema?
You would have to own an original
Wong Kar Wai or Jean Luc Goddard,
wouldn’t you say? Moser
Baer to the rescue. After
revolutionizing home video
entertainment (pricing original
DVD and VCDs at Rs.34 and
Rs.28) Moser Baer are now
changing film culture in India.
They open the score by widely
making available 50 critically
acclaimed foreign films from
the Palador Pictures catalogue.
Film aficionados here have
waited a long time for this,
and finally Moser Baer has
made it possible for you to
walk into a store and buy
an original DVD of The Seven
Samurai or Jim Jarmusch’s
Down by Law or even a contemporary
classic such as Kar Wai’s
In the Mood for Love. The
price? Rs.399.
It feels expensive no doubt
(the pirates have really spoilt
us) but consider for a moment:
it will stand up to several
viewings, the quality of the
disc, the sound and the aspect
ratio is first rate, and other
film companies had been selling
them earlier for Rs.899. These
come nicely packaged with
an attractive double sleeve
(one is a slipcase to keep
the case in mint condition)
with notes on the film and
the director. I’ve saved
the best bit for the last:
each DVD comes with a second
film that Moser Baer-Palador
call ‘Indie Corner’.
A second film is a bonus in
itself but what’s really
exciting about this for film
buffs is that they are all
early student short films
by our best avant-garde Indian
filmmakers. Kundan Shah’s
Bonga, Rajat Kapoor’s
Hypnothesis, Arun Khopkar’s
Teevra Madhyam, and Madan
Bavaria’s Suman to name
only a few. Outside of finding
them here, they are unavailable
in the market.
Collector’s Box sets
of the masters of world cinema
are also available. Each set
contains five DVDs of a particular
director. Mr. G Dhananjayan,
Chief Operating Officer, Moser
Baer Home Entertainment spoke
to Behindwoods, saying, “
These titles are available
at all premium retail stores.
The initial response has been
very encouraging, with most
of them eagerly waiting for
the launch of these titles.
This indicates a significant
latent demand for such classics,
which Moser Baer with its
wide distribution network
will be able to fill. Customers
can also log onto our website
www.moserbaerhomevideo.com,
and buy on-line all the titles,
and avail of our free home
delivery facility.”
Behindwoods samples ten world
cinema classics from the Moser
Baer catalogue.
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