Pioneering nationwide online ticketing marks the arrival of sophisticated Bollywood marketing

NEW YORK, India and AUSTIN, US, Nov 6: K3G tix on the Net? The marketing and promotion of Bollywood films in the US has moved to a new level by taking full advantage of the Internet, underscoring the growing importance of the NRI market to Bollywood industry and the resourcefulness with which distributors and exhibitors are seeking to maximize revenue.

The much awaited and heavily promoted blockbuster Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham (K3G) from Yashraj Films is already creating history by being the first Bollywood movie ever to launch nationwide advance online ticket sales a full two weeks before the official December 14th release. Tickets to the movie have gone on sale on Sulekha.com for over 50 screens in several cities including San Francisco, New York, San Diego, Houston, New Jersey, Philadelphia, St.Louis, Orlando, Austin and Phoenix. Tickets can be purchased through a dedicated ticketing website on Sulekha.com at www.sulekha.com/k3g

Mr. Jawahar of Yashraj Films said, "We really want to enhance the overall experience of our audience right from the quality of entertainment to the theater ambience to the convenience with which our customers can purchase the tickets! The highly popular online community Sulekha.com is a perfect venue for nationwide film ticketing. We are glad they have taken the initiative to launch this highly useful service in an organized and professional manner."

The high emotional loyalty of Indians for Bollywood entertainment is well known. In fact, the popularity of Indian movies is so high that Indians in the US stand in long lines for hours to get tickets and many return home disappointed. The movie ticketing service launched by Sulekha could help eliminate such inconvenience. Mr Satya Prabhakar, President and CEO of Sulekha.com, said, "Sulekha has launched this service in partnership with several movie exhibitors across the nation in an effort to provide a high value service for South Asians across US. The feedback so far has been very gratifying." Mr Vasu Neerukonda, movie exhibitor in Austin, agrees, "The customer satisfaction has increased dramatically since we launched online ticketing with Sulekha."

But does online ticketing increase revenues? "Definitely," says Vineet Pabreja, Director of Business Development of Sulekha.com, "More and more people are now willing to commit an evening to Indian movies because they are able to confirm their seats ahead of time and plan their schedule accordingly. The nuisance of 'House Full' disappointment has been eliminated."

It remains to be seen, of course, if online ticketing will make K3G the biggest blockbuster of the year.

About Sulekha.com

Sulekha.com is the flagship service of Smart Information Worldwide, Inc., a leading Internet media and services company with operations in US and India. Sustained by the creative contributions of thousands of Indians from over 50 countries, Sulekha has become the biggest online community for Indians, winning the unexampled loyalty of hundreds of thousands of visitors and acclaim from the media. In addition, Sulekha is also the leading provider of ticketing, membership and fundraising services to Indian organizations and is today the biggest online ticketer for Indian events and movies in North America. Web address: http://www.sulekha.com
Contact: Vineet Pabreja, Sulekha.com, satya@sulekha.net, 512-762-7317