Aamir Khan's 'Sitaare Zameen Par' to release on YouTube Movies on Aug 1

Business Standard

6 days ago

Superstar Aamir Khan on Tuesday announced that his latest release "Sitaare Zameen Par" will be available on YouTube Movies on demand, after its theatrical run.
Starting August 1, the film will stream exclusively on YouTube in India at ₹100, and in 38 international markets, including US, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, among others, with pricing localised for each market.
"The price point for this film is ₹100. It is a family film and I want the entire family to watch the film together. If the family of four decides to watch this film at₹. 100 then it will cost ₹25 per person.
"By the time we finish our theatrical run maybe we would've reached more than a crore people but what about the remaining people? So, my attempt is to reach every person through my film," the 60-year-old actor told reporters here at a press conference.
Directed by R S Prasanna, "Sitaare Zameen Par" was released in theatres across the country in June, earning over ₹250 crores and receiving praise for its heartwarming story as well as performances.
"I want to take my film to every household, I want to reach out to every audience. It is up to the audience when they want to watch the film. I felt this is the right time to come up with this pay-per-view model," Aamir said.
He also said that in a few days all the films produced by his banner Aamir Khan Productions will be available on his YouTube platform.
The actor said he is open to the idea of showcasing films of other producers on his YouTube platform.
"We are open to show the film of other producers on our YouTube channel provided our core team at AKP including me and Aparna should like the content. It is not a subscription based model but it is a pay-per-view thing." The actor said he has been trying to figure out a solution to the challenge of how to reach audiences who do not have "geographical access to theatres".
"Finally the time for the perfect storm has come. With our government bringing in UPI and India becoming number one in the world in electronic payments, with internet penetration in India having grown dramatically and growing everyday, and with YouTube being on most devices, we can finally reach vast sections of people in India, and a significant part of the world," Aamir said.
Billed as a spiritual sequel to the actor's critically acclaimed 2007 movie Taare Zameen Par, "Sitaare Zameen Par" follows the journey of a basketball coach (Aamir), who mentors ten differently-abled individuals. The movie is a remake of Spanish movie "Champions".
Besides Aamir, the film also stars Aroush Datta, Gopi Krishna Varma, Samvit Desai, Vedant Sharma, Ayush Bhansali, Ashish Pendse, Rishi Shahani, Rishabh Jain, Naman Mishra, and Simran Mangeshkar. Genelia D'Souza appears as well in a pivotal role.
Aamir also admitted that he was lying about not releasing Sitaare Zameen Par on OTT during the promotions of the film in June.
I apologise that I lied to all those who asked me whether I'm releasing my film on YouTube or not. I did so because I wanted to protect the theatrical business. I'm loyal to the theatre business. Since we were experimenting for the first time, I had to unfortunately lie about it, he said.
The actor said all his upcoming home production films will first release in theatres and later on YouTube as a pay-per-view model.
OTT is a subscription model. I don't have any problem with OTT, but the timing of releasing our film on OTT after six to eight weeks of its theatrical run is something that I don't like. Therefore I've moved away from it. I don't think the pay-per-view model will affect theatrical business, Aamir said.
I don't know what the business potential of this (pay-per-view) is because I'm doing this for the first time, he added.
In a statement, Gunjan Soni, country managing director at YouTube India, said the digital launch of "Sitaare Zameen Par" exclusively on their platform is a significant step towards "democratising Indian film distribution at a global scale".
"YouTube is already a key digital destination for premium content, and we're excited to offer filmmakers and content owners not only our unparalleled digital reach but also the control and flexibility to meet their audiences where they are. Today's launch is far more than a release - YouTube is laying out the red carpet for Indian cinema to stride onto the global stage," she added.
Aamir is currently producing "Lahore 1947", starring Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta, and "Ek Din", featuring Junaid Khan and Sai Pallavi, both under his banner Aamir Khan Productions.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)