Home video release for brilliant 2016 Marathi film Kaul - A Calling

[ravenus]

Hey all,
Some of you might remember that in my year-end list of top movies for 2016 I had mentioned a Marathi film called Kaul - The Calling, the feature film debut of Aadish Keluskar. I found Kaul a fantastic journey of dread and unease, a philosophical / existential horror that carries a kinship to the works of David Lynch. So anyway, I am talking with the producer to initiate a home video release of the film. While the ideal would be a blu-ray with Dolby Atmos, the economics of that versus the number of possible buyers may turn out very unfavorable so right now I am aiming for a well-produced DVD release.

Kaul is a film with a dark textured visual scheme and a brilliantly conceived disturbingly detailed soundscape intrinsic to its design. It deserves a professionally authored home video release that does justice to the film-makers' intentions. My basic idea is to have:
1) Best possible DVD video encode of the feature film with a high bitrate 5.1 DTS track (backup Dolby Digital 5.1), and English subtitles.
2) Include some of Aadish's previous short films.
3) Video interviews with the film-makers discussing the conception and making of Kaul etc.
4) All-region DVD with NTSC standard for universal playback.

Right now I'm trying to get a gauge of the economics of this whole enterprise, and I'd like to get a gauge of how much interest there is for such a product. So my question to you all is, if one were to push for it to be done, how many of you would be willing to shell out approximately 300-400rs for a properly produced DVD of this modern classic (or let us say about 15$ if you're out of India and need it to be shipped to you)? Or would you just prefer to watch it on some streaming / online platform?

I'm making a poll on this thread and I request you all to please vote in the poll so I get an idea of the potential interest. In case you have any suggestions to make, please reply in this thread. Thanks for your input.

Here's the trailer of Kaul for those who want to get a feel of the film's tone:

Kaul - A Calling Official Trailer 2016 | Experiencekaul - YouTube

[akbombay]

thanks. never knew about this movie

[ravenus]

Update: The producer has told me that he will discuss with Mr. Chandna (who used to author DVD/BD for Eros) whom he knows personally regarding authoring of the disc. I had in fact previously sent PM's to Mr. Chandna and Shahran Sunny Audit but they have not yet responded and anyway, they have not been active on these forums for a long while. Will try to get estimates for both DVD and BD, but please don't get hopes high for BD since number of buyers will become much more limited in general so much harder to recoup the investment.

[ravenus]

Update: It's too early to name names, but just in case you think this project is in slumber, I can say that I have a feasible estimate for the financial outlay of the project and at this stage I need to finalize the arrangement with the producer before I make a formal announcement. I will most likely try to have a pre-order scheme so people can place their orders prior to the replication and I will have a more concrete picture of the actual demand.

I am also trying to see about including a limited edition booklet with critical essay, director's statement and some other stuff.

PS: There was also discussion of a BD-R but considering the views expressed by most people on this forum (including myself) when Eagle was releasing movies on BD-R, I doubt there will be a sufficient demand for that.

[prepress]

I have voted for the DVD, but instead of DVD it would be good if we get its well encoded BD-R.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by prepress

I have voted for the DVD, but instead of DVD it would be good if we get its well encoded BD-R.

The thing is we are already looking at a film with a niche audience. Dividing it up further into people that have the capability to play blu-rays makes it near impossible to just break even. If anyone wants to put their money for such an enterprise, I'll help to hook up with the people you need to talk to.

[ravenus]

Btw I thought I may have said this before but just in case anyone has any doubts:

NO logos / watermarks during the film, this was one of the big reasons I did not want the film to come out on some commercial Indian label. If possible, I will also see about removing any smoking / drinking disclaimers.

[prepress]

Originally Posted by ravenus

The thing is we are already looking at a film with a niche audience. Dividing it up further into people that have the capability to play blu-rays makes it near impossible to just break even. If anyone wants to put their money for such an enterprise, I'll help to hook up with the people you need to talk to.

Considering the quality of Cinemas of India series DVDs, even old movies looked great on those DVDs. If Kaul - A Calling DVD meets that standard, then I am okay (even others would be too).

I agree there won't be too many takers for its BD, so lets settle with DVD for now. Let us know if we need to pay in advance to accomplish this project. If so, then you can send the official account details, and the people who make the payment in advance can post the transaction ID/Amount/Date etc.

[ravenus]

Thanks for the support. It will definitely be better than most of the NFDC DVD's (with DTS surround sound plus extras). I'm enquiring if I can request the services of an existing online store as a pre-order depot. If nothing else, then I'll probably opt for bank transfer based orders.

[Jafar]

A Blu would've been ideal but I'll happily settle for a decent DVD and offer my support. Trailer certainly looks intriguing.

[ravenus]

Update: Recently I wrote to (through his agent) a prominent British dark fantasy author and film critic, who has frequently provided written / video essays for releases by Arrow and other boutique labels (primarily in the horror and giallo segments, some of you may have already guessed the name), and requested him to look at and provide a written critical appreciation of Kaul that can be incorporated in a booklet for the intended DVD release. It was a total shot in the dark, but a couple days later I got a mail from the man himself. He has in principle agreed to look at the film to decide about providing the requested essay. With the producer's permission I will be arranging to send him a screener disc.
This may take a couple of months because he is tied up with other projects at the moment, but I think that should sync well with the time required to put together the other materials, encode and author the master disc, and prepare for the replication.

[ketan]

I think thanks is not enough for effort. But still i just say THANKS.

[bugsnest]

@ravenus - your passion and determination to get this movie out on DVD is inspiring! I wish you success... and count me in for a copy!

[ravenus]

Thanks bn. Regardless of how this project fares financially, I'm glad it has given me the opportunity to interact with people who are genuinely interested in getting an outlet for off the beaten track cinema.

[ravenus]

Update:

Yesterday I had a thoroughly enjoyable meeting with the gentleman that will be supervising the DVD authoring and also providing necessary support for getting the replication and packaging done. It's a fantastic thing when you meet people who are on the same page as you and are helping because they want to do something that stands apart from the low standard that so many Indian video labels fall prey to (which is not entirely their fault, there is a pervasive lack of interest, right from the film-makers, who are not bothered with the release quality once they have taken licensing fee to the consumers who are price-conscious to the extreme and don't want to spend on quality products).

Apart from looking over the terms of the draft agreement to take care of the legal and financial angles of the project, we discussed the requirements of source materials for preparing encodes of the feature films and extras (the master is expected to be prepared from the original DPX files, and it is my aim to have director / DoP approved transfer). We also discussed the tentative framework of the menu ( we want to have a simple but classy menu, similar to the standards of Criterion / Eureka).

I am also contacting friends involved with commercial art / graphic design who may be capable of designing the DVD cover (front+back), disc art and booklet / leaflet. In case anyone on this forum is involved in such work, and would like to contribute send me a PM. I would prefer people based in Mumbai so that if required I can give face-to-face feedback.

[mrbrat_Boy]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Update:

Yesterday I had a thoroughly enjoyable meeting with the gentleman that will be supervising the DVD authoring and also providing necessary support for getting the replication and packaging done. It's a fantastic thing when you meet people who are on the same page as you and are helping because they want to do something that stands apart from the low standard that so many Indian video labels fall prey to (which is not entirely their fault, there is a pervasive lack of interest, right from the film-makers, who are not bothered with the release quality once they have taken licensing fee to the consumers who are price-conscious to the extreme and don't want to spend on quality products).

Apart from looking over the terms of the draft agreement to take care of the legal and financial angles of the project, we discussed the requirements of source materials for preparing encodes of the feature films and extras (the master is expected to be prepared from the original DPX files, and it is my aim to have director / DoP approved transfer). We also discussed the tentative framework of the menu ( we want to have a simple but classy menu, similar to the standards of Criterion / Eureka).

I am also contacting friends involved with commercial art / graphic design who may be capable of designing the DVD cover (front+back), disc art and booklet / leaflet. In case anyone on this forum is involved in such work, and would like to contribute send me a PM. I would prefer people based in Mumbai so that if required I can give face-to-face feedback.

This is absolutely exciting Suresh! Thank you for the efforts, love what you are planning above. Simple menus are always better, much classier and has easy navigation. Really looking forward to this!