The Raj Ballav Koirala‘s film ‘Raghav’ surprised everybody by releasing it in the internet instead of in theaters like other movies. Every other Nepali movies wait at least a year before releasing in YouTube. In that time they try to make the required profit from theaters and DVD sales. Releasing in YouTube is relatively a new trend and there are some producer still skeptical in releasing their films in internet. When ‘Raghav’ broke the tradition, a lot of Nepali film industry were surprised and some were even scared of the new development.
In response, ‘Raghav’ director Bhupendra Bhattarai wrote a long statement in Facebook (quoted below). The summary of his statement:
- They want to try a different approach in distribution of movies.
- Targeted audience of ‘Raghav’ is not Nepali theater audience but Nepali students in international institutions.
- The film has already recouped the investment and the YouTube version does not earn any revenue.
- Before releasing for free 500 copies of the film were sold.
