'Qissa' to release Feb 20 on multiple platforms

Irrfan Khan and Tisca Chopra starrer Punjabi feature film "Qissa" will release in select Indian theatres, as well as on DVD and Video on Demand (VoD) formats, Feb 20.

Directed by Anup Singh, the film will be shown in select theatres across Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh, Chennai and Kolkata. The VoD will be available on National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) VoD website, read a statement.

"We are leveraging the digital revolution, to make our diverse portfolio of films in various Indian languages, accessible to a pan-Indian audience and developing a distribution model that goes beyond the traditional release pattern, which is driven by windows between each media platform," Nina Lath Gupta, managing director, NFDC, said in a statement.

"Online and social media, with no traditional television spots or billboards, is primarily driving our marketing strategy, as we believe that the audiences for NFDC's portfolio of films are socially networked and digitally wired. This is the first time that a Punjabi feature film will get such a scale of exposure," she added.

"Qissa" is set in the post-partition era. The first film to be shot under the Indian-German co-production treaty, it is an international co-production between India, Germany, Netherlands and France with funding from the NFDC, the Dutch Film Fund, Eurimage and German funds Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and North Rhine Westphalia (NRW).

The movie also stars Rasika Duggal and Tillotama Shome in key roles.