Bollywood Comes to Blu-ray with 'Saawariya'

The first-ever Bollywood film to be produced and released by a Hollywood studio is headed to high-def, with Sony announcing a March Blu-ray debut for the epic musical 'Saawariya.'

Inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky's short story, "White Nights," 'Saawariya' tells the tale of a chance encounter between two lovers, and a subsequent obsession that spans four successive nights of music and fantasy. Sony will debut the first-ever film from producer-director Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Blu-ray March 11, 2008, day-and-date with the standard DVD.

Announced supplements are slim, with both versions sharing only a single TV special, "The Making of the Music."

Sony will present 'Saawariya' in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video, as well as with English and Hindi 5.1 surround options (exact audio format is still TBA).

The studio has set a suggested list price of 38.99 for the Blu-ray.

You'll find preliminary disc details for 'Saawariya' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it's indexed under March 11, 2008.

We've also set up a dedicated thread for the bow of Bollywood on high-def in our Forums area -- click the following link to discuss the 'Saawariya' Blu-ray release.