(16 August 2005 9:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Zee Telefilms Ltd (ZTL) will release India's first live animation feature film Bhaggmati - The queen of fortunes on 26 August.

The movie will be released with approximately 100 prints, Zee Telefilms vice president Ashish Kaul told indiantelevision.com.

Zee has tied up with distributors for the all India release. While Tilak Enterprises will distribute Bhaggmati in Mumbai, the Delhi territory has been bought by B.S Pictures. Burma Films is the distributor for the Eastern region and the Nizam territory has gone to Dilshad Films. Kaul, however, did not disclose the commercial terms of these deals.

Bhaggmati will have a later release in the overseas markets as Zee is yet to finalise on its distribution partner.

"At present, we are in talks with various players. We are very close to a deal and the film will have its international release probably one week after the India release," Kaul said.

ZTL has plans to release Bhaggmati in five countries: US, UK, Germany, France and Russia.

Kaul, who is also looking after the marketing and promotional aspects of Bhaggmati, says the film will be promoted across the Zee Network apart from using platforms such as print, outdoor and radio.

"We will be promoting Bhaggmati extensively across all the media platforms. The outdoor campaigns have already begun.
We will have two contests to create an excitement about the film in the market. One contest will deal with the animation feature of the film while the other will cover the historical aspects," Kaul says, adding that Bhaggmati will premiere in Mumbai's Fame Adlabs, located in the Western suburb Andheri.

ZTL however has no immediate plans to release the movie on television. Kaul said the movie would be brought to television only in 2006.

ZTL released the music of Bhaggmati on Universal Music globally in July. According to market estimates, the movie is made on a budget of Rs 35 million.

Bhaggmati, a project initiated by ZTL three years back, stars Tabu and Milind Soman in the title roles. The 2 hour and 40 minute film is written and directed by the National Award winner Ashok Kaul.

The animation part, entirely done by the Zee Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA), occupies half the duration of the film.

Also read:
Zee's 'Bhaggmati' ties fortune with Universal for Music