The Bollywood thriller Supari will be offered for sale at US$2.99 a pop after a deal was struck between Sharman Networks partner Altnet Networks, a p2p content provider, and Bollywood film maker Aum Creates. Kazaa users will also be able to purchase music files from the movie for US$0.90 each.
The movie was promoted through Kazaa prior to its release in India. According to the film's director, Padam Kumar, p2p is a suitable way of distributing a low budget feature to a wide audience.
"Kazaa has already managed to create widespread awareness for Supari. Selling the full movie is a logical next step, and with a relatively low budget movie, it is a very cost effective way to reach the masses," Kumar was quoted as saying in a statement issued by Sharman Networks.
Sharman Networks chief executive, Nikki Hemming, said the very nature of p2p technology makes mass distribution of large files, such as movies, feasible. "The Bollywood movie market is growing at twice the rate of Hollywood, in terms of production and revenue... Selling large, high quality files online, such as feature films, at low cost to a massive audience across the globe quite simply cannot be done efficiently using traditional websites," she said in the statement.
