Title: Apaharan
Year: 2005
BD Release: 2010
IMDB Rating: 7.6
Category: Action | Crime | Drama
Distributor: T-Series
Authoring House:?
Region Coding: A/B/C
MRP: Rs. 699/-
Media: Main Feature - 50GB BD
Running Time: 02:48:28 hrs
Chapters: 11
Bitrate: Peak 32.2Mbps | Average 24Mbps
Video:
2.35:1, HD 1080p 16:9, AVC 24Hz
Audio:
1/2 Hindi - Dolby Digital 5.1 (48khz ?kbps) <-- Default Track
2/2 Hindi - DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48khz)
The packaging incorrectly states: Dolby Digital 5.1 (Uncompressed PCM Audio)
Subtitles: <-- NOT 2.35:1 Screen Friendly (Positioned below the the picture area)
1/1 English
Special Features:
NONE

Special Mention:
No Watermark Logo, during songs or otherwise.<-- Is this a sign that T-Series has finally decided to do the right thing? I suppose only time and future releases will tell.
No forced 'ringtone' advertisements. <-- Again, I am not sure if this is because T-Series have finally come around, or if this is because this movie only has 'One' song.
No scrolling advertisements during songs or otherwise. <-- All Bollywood Video companies, please take note.
No advertisements, forced or otherwise, during the movie. <-- All Bollywood Video companies, please take note.
Separate 'Song Menu' to allow direct selection of song. <-- This should be a no brainer for all Bollywood films.

Authoring screw ups:
1. Only 'eleven' chapters in a 2hrs 48min movie.
2. Only 'six' chapter links in the pop-up menu.
3. The numbers in the chapter menu do not correspond to the actual chapter numbers.
4. Chapter 'one' is only 'six' seconds. Chapter 'eight' is only 'four' seconds long.
5. There is absolutely no logic used in making chapter marks.

Review:
The movie is pretty good and it makes this blu-ray worth a rental, but certianly no more. All in all, the audio/video quality is below average and the authoring is atrocious. T-Series should be embarassed by this very unprofessional authoring job.
NOT RECOMMENDED

My ratings: out of 5.0
Movie: 3.75
Video: 2.75
Audio: 3.0
Extras: 0
Misc.: 0
Overall: 2.5





Screenshots courtesy DDR

Equipment used for testing:
Projector: Panasonic PT-AE2000U
Display: Samsung PS50C550 50"
Viewing Distance: 12'
A/V Receiver: Denon AVR5800
Speakers: 5.1
Front/Main: Paradigm Reference 100 v2
Center: Paradigm Reference Studio CC v2
Rear: Tannoy - Mercury M5
Subwoofer: Paradigm Reference Servo 15
BD Player:
Oppo BDP-83 (Hardware Modified 'Region Free' with 'BDP83-50-0424' firmware)
PS3 (80GB US 'Region A' with firmware v3.40)

Hi Sanjay,

Look forward to your review and hope you get your PJ lamp sorted soon.
I have not received this BD yet as it is not for UK release and hoping one of our colleague from India to get it for me this week.

My current observations from the screenshots are (I am not trying to judge from screenshots as it is not the best method anyway. I am eager to see your review or get the BD myself and watch it)

1. Picture appears nice and sharp (at times tad too sharp - possible Edge Enhancement ???)
2. Pink tinge visible more prominent on white objects or peoples faces. Colour hue issue
3. Contrast boost - White/light coloured objects in few contrasty scenes look blown with loss of detail. This can be seen on peoples shirts, collars and especially the image with the Kendriya Karagar - That looks awful with contrast blown out. You can't see the detail on the building due to boosted contrast. If contrast is boosted and edge enhancement is used as well througout the entire movie, some dark scenes will suffer from noise and other artefacts.

I am just hoping that the actual BD image to be better than the screenshots posted by DDR. if Point 2 and 3 proves to be right, then I will be dissapointed.

Hope to see your review soon.

Ani

After having strung me along for over a week by promising 'kal', now the supplier is claiming he will have the lamp for me within a week from now. Unfortunately he is the only source I can find for the lamp around here, sso not I much I can do but just stick it out and be partient.

Most of your observations seem to be quite spot on, but I have only seen the Blu-ray on a 50" plasma, which I find too small to be able to truelly comment on the picture quality. Also the fact that it is a new TV which I am not familiar with yet no critical judgement can be reached. The color/hue issue is definately a problem in a lot of scenes that I observed while fast forwarding the movie. I have not seen the movie before so would like to see it first on the projector and not spoil the experience by watching it on the TV. 'Pyaar Ke Side Effects' is another Blu-ray that I am waiting to watch on the projector, since I have not seen it before either. But based on what little I did see of the two Blu-rays, I think I can with atleast some certainity, state that the picture quality on this BD is not as good as that of the 'Pyaar Ke Side Effects' Blu-ray, whihc looks far more promising, except for the ghastly T-Series logo.

Some of the AVforum member in the UK uses a Hong Kong based supplier for lamps that are not available in UK or they are overly priced. I know your lamp this is kind of sorted already but just a heads up for future.

I know screenshots are not the best way to judge but properly taken ones do reveal a lot.
I know why you don't want to spoil the experience and since you have not seen it before you have more reason to watch it on the PJ.

Unfortunately sourcing from out of the country involves too many hassles, just one of the 'non perks' of living in India. Thanks for the heads up, anyhow.

@Sanjay - I will be in India during the 3rd week of August. If you have the patience to wait till then, then I can bring it along. Keep me posted.

Thank you very much for the very generous offer. Although, hopefully I will not have to wait that long. But in case nothing else works, I just might take you up on the offer.

Sanjay, waiting for your review of Apharan! Thanks much!

Hoping to get around to this soon. Due to the delay in acquiring the lamp, there is a long backlog of movies to watch. The sudden spurt of Indian blu-ray releases has not helped matters much, not that I am complaining. Just that some of the latest BDs don't seem to be very promising from the screenshots that have been posted.

Could someone please revive a more detailed review of this films bluray.
Thanks.

Oops.. I totally forgot about updating this review. I finally did watch this blu-ray a couple of months back, but unfortunately do not remember too much to be able to comment in detail on the audio/video quality. I had noted down my ratings for the blu-ray, which I have added to the review. Bottom line is that the blu-ray is not worth buying and I recommend that you rent it to watch the movie which is pretty good.