Appeal to Shemaroo:
It is abovious, from this blu-ray and the blu-ray of 'Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani', that Shemaroo is a company quite capable of producing 'very good' blu-rays. Therefore, please do not ruin your blu-rays by putting 'visible' logo 'watermarks'. As a qualified advertising/marketing person, I can assure you, that presenting your logo in this manner, does not promote the brand. Rather it only generates ill will and animosity towards the brand. As an anti piracy measure too, 'visible' watermarks do not help, as is very evident from the rampant piracy of bollywood DVDs. 'Visible' watermarks only serve as irritants to 'paying customers', who ironically do not have to suffer them on pirated media. In other words, by putting 'visible' watermarks, you are compelling 'paying customers' to opt for pirated media rather than to buy the legal releases. Even if there are any benefits to putting 'visible' watermarks, the negatives far outweigh those perceived benefits.

Title: Ishqiya
Year: 2010
BD Release: 2010
IMDB Rating: 7.7
Category: Comedy | Romance | Thriller | Musical
Distributor: Shemaroo Entertainment
Authoring House: Shemaroo
Region Coding: A/B/C
MRP: Rs. 799/-
Media: Main Feature - 50GB BD
Running Time: 01:55:48 hrs
Chapters: 20
Video:
2.35:1, HD 1080p 16:9, AVC 24Hz
Peak Bitrate ?Mbps | Average Bitrate ?Mbps
Audio:
1/2 Hindi - DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48khz) <-- Default Track
2/2 Hindi - Dolby Digital 5.1 <-- Redundant and totally unnecesary
Subtitles: <-- 2.35:1 Screen Friendly (Positioned at the bottom of the picture area)
1. English
2. Spanish
3. Germanic (Other)
4. Arabic
5. Tamil

Extras: (NO watermarks on any of the extras)
1. Making of Ishqiya (00:20:11 | SD 16:9 | AVC 29.97Hz 4:3 | DTS-HD MA 2.0 , DD 2.0 )
Split into three segments: 'Film', 'Music of Ishqiya' & '??'. This is a good watch after the movie providing an insight into the makings of a movie, that is atleast in my opinion, destined to be a classic. Apparently this was shot in 16:9 HD, but is dissapointingly presented in SD on this blu-ray. I am sure as producers of the film, Shemaroo would have had access to the original high defination video and thus this is that much more dissapointing and perplexing. The decision to present this in standard defintiion is even more perpelexing considering the fact, that all the other extras on the blu-ray are presented in high definition.

2. Deleted Scenes (00:32:39 | HD 1920x1080 24p | AVC 24Hz 16:9 | DTS-HD MA 2.0 , DD 2.0 )
There are a total of 'sixteen' scenes presented here. These are actually deleted and extended scenes. The video quality of the deleted/extended scenes is not only very good, but is actually better than the main feature on most Indian blu-rays. Sadly there are no sub-titles for the deleted/extended scenes. It would have been nice if these were presented with 5.1 audio.

3. Ibn Batuta - Full Song (00:02:22 | HD 1920x1080 24p | AVC 24Hz 16:9 | DTS-HD MA 5.1 , DD 5.1)
The movie itself does not feature the full song, which is presented here as a 'music video', consisting of a collage of scenes from the film.

4. Stills (00:02:15 | HD 1920x1080 | MPEG2 24Hz 16:9 )
Set of still photographs from the movie.

Special Mention:
1. The blu-ray is marred by the 'visible' Shemaroo logo 'watermark' <-- This is absolutely shameful and reprehensible.
Strangely enough, the logo 'watermark' appears only after the 3rd chapter at 00:16:25 and then remains throughout the film.
2. Most of the extras are in High Definition (1920x1080).
3. Option to play 'All Songs'.

Authoring issues:
1. No pop-up menu while playing extras.
2. 'All songs' option and the songs via the 'song menu' are on a second video stream. It is about time this was achieved via programming, instead of this space wasting method.

Review:
NOTES:
Movie: An excellent movie, that is destined to be a classic. One of those rare gems that are excellent in all departments of film making. Great script, great performances, great music etc. etc. etc. I suppose you can say, that I absolutely love this film. But, what a shame that Shemaroo, who are also the producers of this film, have put their obnoxios 'logo' watermarks on this otherwise very, very good blu-ray. In fact in terms of a complete package, ie. audio/video/extras/price etc., this would have been the atleast one of the best, if not the very best bollywood blu-rays so far.

Video: Color temperature is slightly off towards the cooler side (but not anywhere as bad as on the 'Badmaash Company' blu-ray). Colors are slightly undersaturated. No traces of any DNR, contrast boost, edge enhancement or any artificial sharpening. Overall, quite satisfying video quality.

Audio: Overall volume levels are slightly high (although not as loud as 'Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani'). The bass is slightly boomy. Overall, very good audio.

Extras: Probably the best set of extra features on an Indian blu-ray so far. I'm sure, this being a Shemaroo production has something to do with this. This is the first bollywood blu-ray to feature high definition extras, including the deleted/extended scenes.

Menus etc.: Practical, with no major faux paus.

Unfortunately, due to Shemaroo's myopic and totally ignorant views of brand promotion and/or anti piracy measures, they have not only destroyed the integrity of a movie that is destined to become a classic, but have also marred what is an otherwise very good blu-ray. Considering that this is so far the very best, bollywood movie to be released on blu-ray, this one would have been an absolute must buy, were it not for the reprehensible 'visible' logo 'watermarks'. Thus in good conscience, I really cannot bring myself to recommend this blu-ray to anyone. If you must, then I would suggest you rent it for the excellent movie that 'Ishqiya' is.
NOT RECOMMENDED

My ratings: (out of 5.0)
Movie: 4.7
Video: 4.4
Audio: 4.25
Extras: 4.5
Misc.: 2.0
Overall: 0 (Were it not for the logo 'watermarks', the rating Would have been 4.3).






Screenshots courtesy 'DDR'

Equipment used for testing:
Projector: Panasonic PT-AE2000U
Screen: Da-Lite 4:3 120" 'Model B' - White Matte
Viewing Distance: 11' 6"
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 v3.50)

Screenshots Discussion thread: Blu-ray Screenshots: Ishqiya (Shame-aroo)

Thanks Sanjay for Nice & True Review. Logo kills everything.


Regarding your comment on space wasting......I don't agree.......How the space has been wasted? The total BD size is 35.7 GB. If they had not used the redundant videos, it would have been even lesser in size. So they find it difficult to utilise full capacity of a Blu-ray Media. And never mind....... Extras too are included within this 35 GB. HOPELESS

My criticism of presenting the songs in a separate video stream, is not so much for this particular blu-ray, but in general for all bollywood blu-rays. 'Ishqiya' being a short movie, by bollywood standards, does not need as much space. But more often than not, this method of providing the 'Play All' option is at the expense of disk space that could be used to encode the audio/video at a higher bitrate.

However, I do agree with you, that it is silly and inexplicable that a lot of authoring companies are not making better use of the disk space available and continue to encode at low bitrates even when there is ample space available.

Brilliant movie

I missed it in theater when it came out and was waiting for the BD version. Awesome movie and a great transfer but marred by the watermark of Shemaroo.

To me, Vidya Balan to me is the best Actor (Female) in bollywood now. She has shown immense versatility in her roles within such a short career.

I want to buy this and will buy this in a heartbeat if Shemaroo can release a non-watermarked version.

I agree!

With Shame - Aroo's recent titles like "Zanjeer", "Sharabi", "Lawaris" & "Muqaddar Ka Sikander"; I thought that they would take two steps

1) Getting rid of their watermarks
2) Getting classics on Blu - Ray

Unfortunately, NO LUCK!!!

All the three are the same old Field Averaged CRAP. The 3 "originally widescreen" movies are all cropped to 1.85. Pseudo 5.1 Track.

Despite their decent quality, I would not prefer their products because of their stupidity.