A still from Ekti Tarar Khonje, which is set to be made available to non-resident Bengalis in the US and Canada within a week of its release in Calcutta

A Florida-based group is poised to open for new-age Bengali films the doors to the north American market.

Come April, Databazaar Media Ventures (DMV), the arm of the Databazaar group that had produced Suman Ghosh’s Dwando, would become a “gateway for Bengali films to north America” and ensure their “effective marketing”.

The first Bengali film to take the Databazaar route to retail, rental, cable and online outlets overseas would be Avik Mukhopadhyay’s directorial debut, Ekti Tarar Khonje, scheduled for a mid-May release. Other recent releases such Dwando, Cross Connection and Antaheen that “touch upon urban sensitivities with a discerning presentation” will also be made available as a part of a package at a lower price.

“Ekti Tarar Khonje will be made available for pre-order wherever NRIs buy, rent or download movies — on Netflix, Amazon, Best Buy, Target, iTunes, Blockbuster — within a week of its release in Calcutta. The idea is to simultaneously release films in Calcutta and north America,” said Oney Seal, the founder and CEO of the Databazaar group.

Despite plans for the premiere of select films in the US, a theatrical release is not on the cards yet.

“Economically it doesn’t seem viable now. Hindi films followed the same process for seven years before making their presence felt. We’ll try to figure out the demand in specific areas through retail sales and then perhaps plan weekend screenings in auditoriums,” said distributor-exhibitor Arijit Dutta, a part of the core team and in-charge of the acquisition of films to be distributed across the US and Canada.

He recounted how he found Bengali films being screened to full houses during the North American Bengali Conference in Washington DC and Pennsylvania four years ago but could not find their CDs and DVDs in stores.

“Over the past two years, Bengali urban films have generated a lot of interest but most producers are giving up because of insufficient theatrical revenue and low TRPs compared with commercial films. There are more than a million Bengalis, including Bangladeshis, living in the US who are interested in Bengali films. We need to make them a source of revenue,” added Dutta.

Director Suman Ghosh, who will ensure that only quality films are picked for distribution, said: “Alternative Bengali films have no market outside a few halls in Calcutta and big towns in the districts. That is not enough to cover the production cost. What DMV might do is expand the market so that the revenue gap can be bridged. This might allow directors to make films that they otherwise could not have made.”

The venture might also reduce piracy. “I was amazed to see hundreds of pirated copies of my film Podokkhep being sold in a Bengali store in New York. DMV, which will be operating under US piracy laws, will take steps to combat this,” said Ghosh.

Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, the producer of Ekti Tarar Khonje, also hoped that the venture would create space for more experimentation.