Multiple flicks at a time

FILM STREET

While pirated movies have been available in the market for a long time in the form of cassettes, the augment of DVDs has made the proposition very cheap and effective.
A newly-released DVD with four movies generally costs Rs 40 and is easily available in the market. Just walk on the roads of the City and you will find vendors selling a bunch of DVDs under the shades of trees.

Their collection includes the latest Hindi, English, Telugu and Tamil releases.
Surprisingly, it is the Kannada movies that are generally missing. “There is not much of a demand for those,” says a DVD seller.

“This is quite a bargain for the not-so-great movies you want to catch up without shelling out heavily from your purse,” says Savitha, a professional. 

And the best part is you will find these make-shift shops all over the city. “More often than not, you are likely to bump into one of these,” says Raina, a professional, who regularly buys DVDs.

On an average, these people sell around 100 to 200 DVDs per day. “There are people who purchase 60 DVDs in one go,” says one seller. But this business, though very lucrative, is also high on risk because of the piracy angle. “There are raids but we have to give something to the cops too,” informs a DVD seller.

If you don’t want to stack bad quality prints at home, you can always rent a DVD. There is no shortage of shops that stack every new release under the sun, from the latest Hindi releases to English movies that haven’t even seen the light of the day in India. Romantic comedies, action, animation, dramas, you name it and they have it.

These generally cost anywhere between Rs 25 and Rs 40 with an advance of Rs 100 and have a better print quality. But are they worth it? From the consumers’ end, it is the print that makes or breaks it. If you are lucky, you might land up with something pretty close to the original.

“The only problem I face is that sometimes, the content on the cover is different from real content. Another problem is the bad quality print, but they are so cheap that I don’t mind it,” says Abhinav.

We are further informed that the single DVDs are of better print than the four-in-one versions. Guess, you don’t get everything you ask for!