Siddharth Roy Kapoor speaks on UTV’s sub-brand "UTV Classics" 
By Joginder Tuteja, November 22, 2006 - 04:35 IST
UTV has been known to create new benchmarks with each of its new ventures and its latest one is no different. Now comes
"UTV Classics", a sub-brand of UTV Motion Pictures that would promote experimental and unconventional cinema, making it
accessible to a broad audience. We speak to Siddharth Roy Kapoor, Senior VP, Marketing and Communication, UTV to gain more
insight into the sub-brand.
One hears that UTV is coming up with a new sub-brand called UTV Classics.
That’s right. The purpose of bringing out this brand is to showcase such films that are different/experimental and do not really
belong to the mainstream variety. We plan to give such movies a good theatrical release; something of the kind that they truly
deserve.
You just mentioned about different films. Is it possible to take an objective call on it?
No certainly not. There is no mathematics formula that can help us arrive at the films which we want to showcase as being
different. It is indeed a subjective call and numerous factors have to be taken into consideration before the categorization.
So which is that film which falls under this category to marks the launch of this brand?
‘The Blue Umbrella’ by Vishal Bhardwaj. It’s an excellent film and we at UTV are extremely proud of the film. It has some
superlative performances by Pankaj Kapur and the child actor Shreya Sharma while the treatment is simply heartening. Feel of a
small village set in Himachal Pradesh has been brought out very well on the screen while the subject is novel too which will cater to
both young and old. It is going to be a beautiful cinematic experience.
How did the idea of coming up with a new brand emerge?
We had been thinking about it for a long time and finally decided to take a plunge. We are a proven name in mainstream motion
pictures and hence thought that why shouldn’t we also position ourselves as a force when it comes to different films. We would be
taking care of both production and distribution of our films.
How is a release strategy different for films coming from UTV Classics?
First and foremost it won’t have a wide theatrical release. It would be done selectively and handled with precision by launching it
for a target audience. The target audience would be of the kind that appreciates such cinema. Also, the films would be required to
be positioned in the right manner. People walking into the theatres should know in advance about the kind of subject they would be
treated to; basically they should be well prepared.
Hypothetically speaking, if ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ were to be released today, would it have arrived under UTV Classics
banner?
[Thinks] Well, can’t really say that. Since I said earlier, it’s a subjective call to be taken. In case of ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’, it
was a comic subject that was supposed to have appealed to a wider section of audience and hence it got a reasonable spread out
release on 120 prints.
How do you plan to promote the brand? Would there be any explicit actions taken?
For establishing the brand, we would be promoting it along with the films only. The content of our films itself would take this brand
forward since as I said before, people would be able to relate the kind of films they would see with the brand and vice versa!
In terms of marketing, would ‘The Blue Umbrella’ take a different course than say, ‘Rang De Basanti’?
Oh yes, certainly. See in case of ‘Rang De Basanti’, there was a different strategy adopted for production and marketing.
There was a mass media campaign that happened in its case. The USP of a movie is always required to be identified and a film is
further promoted on its count. This is why you will see that in case of ‘The Blue Umbrella’, there would be a lot of ground level
promotion that would be happening.
And how would that be?
It will be sort of targeted campaign. There would be events like school contact programs apart from some other plans that we have.
In nutshell, is ‘UTV Classics’ a different Business Unit for UTV?
I would go down to further micro level and say that every project is a different Business Unit for us. Just like a ‘Rang De
Basanti’ is or a ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ is; each of them is a Business Unit in itself. We are not setting up UTV Classics as
a different business entity per se!
Coming to films already being released by UTV this year, it seems to be an exceptional year.
True, it has been. Successes like ‘Rang De Basanti’, ‘Don’ and ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ certainly make you feel proud.
So which are the other projects in the anvil?
Starting February next year ‘Metro’ releases. Then there is ‘The Namesake’ and ‘Hat-trick’ in March,
Vikram Bhatt’s ‘Fear’ in April, ‘Akbar Jodha’ in October and ‘Goal’ in December. It is going to be one
eventful year for sure!
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