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Santhosh
(centre) with Kamal Hassan inside Cinema Paradiso home theatre
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The innovative idea of a DVD rental shop with home theater facility
has been conceptualised by three youngsters: Anand, Richard and
Santhosh. While Anand and Santhosh - software engineers by profession
- have diverted into filmmaking and cinematography respectively;
Richard, brother of famous actress Shalini, is an upcoming hero
in various South Indian languages films. The trio launched Cinema
Paradiso in Chennai last year and the overwhelming response inspired
them expand to Hyderabad and now Bangalore within a span of 15 months.
While speaking to Indiantelevision.com a day after the inauguration
of their Bangalore branch by veteran film star and recipient of
the Padmashree award, Kamal Hassan, Santosh offers, "Suppose
you want to watch a movie with friends and didn't have the equipment
available, we'd offer our facilities for you. Besides membership
fees, you'd have to pay a rental charge of Rs 1000 per show. We
have facilities for seating 12 people comfortably. Paradiso is a
chain network that deals exclusively with DVD's and comprises an
exhaustive collection of only original titles from all over the
world."
 Santhosh
also revealed the network's plans to expand all over India and then
move to the International market as well. He claims that Cinema
Paradiso runs about 15 - 20 shows a month. "Not many persons
would be able pay or be willing to pay Rs 1000 per show. To keep
our clientele exclusive, we have a high membership caution deposit
of Rs 2000 for individuals and Rs 1000 for corporates, the money
is refundable, of course, but the additional processing fees and
application fees totaling Rs 1000 is not."
"Our store specialty includes sections like special interest,
world cinema, commercials (advertising) and also a magazine section
targeted at the bookworms. We are classified as home viewing segment,
as against the public viewing segment, for which at least 20 viewers
are required as per Indian Laws. We pay professional taxes, and
don't come under the purview of entertainment tax. When we import
a DVD directly, the copy is sent to the piracy cell before being
sold or rented out," says Santhosh.
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Cinema
Paradiso deals only with original DVDs and the most interesting aspect
is that there is something for everyone who walks into the store.
The store is segmented into 14 different sections where each section
has an exhaustive collection of titles in that broad genre.