Here's why Mallika's Hisss is not releasing in Hollywood

The film releases in India this week and in the US in January!
PS: Producer says delay is because film needs more promotion in the west
But Mallika Sherawat's yearlong stay in LA was to do just that, wasn't it?

Mallika Sherawat was parked in Los Angeles for over a year, presumably to promote her next film Hisss. But the film, which hits Indian screens this Friday (October 22), is not even releasing in America.

Directed by Jennifer Lynch, Hisss was to have a grand release across US theatres on October 22, along with the desi version but the actress and the producers aren't talking about it.

Vague reasons like "the producers feel that the film needs to be promoted more in Hollywood" and "there are other Hollywood films releasing in the same month and Hisss wouldn't have got a proper theatrical release" are being floated.

Which raises the doubt if the film will have a straight-to-DVD release worldwide.

Building the film

Govind Menon, co-producer of Hisss, denies a DVD release in Hollywood, "We are not releasing it across USA now as we are building up the film a bit.

The English version will release in January 2011. Many Hollywood films don't release on the same day across the world. There is some serious promotional work left for us to do." He explains Mallika's year-long stay in LA with "she was there but for pre-release promotional work.

This way after the film releases in India and other countries in the world we can give better individual attention to Hisss for its Hollywood release and this will take almost three months."

Release in phases

The film hits Indian screens in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu this week, while the Malayalam one will come the next week.

Menon adds, "The international version with subtitles will also release in Malaysia, Australia, UK, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa the same week.

That's Phase 1. Phase 2 will see Hisss have a theatrical release in Hollywood. There has been no talk of a DVD release. We will also have the next release in East Asia in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and countries there."

No fear of film getting stale through the piracy market bothers him.

"Piracy is a problem in the US too but the mainstream American public won't watch it without English subtitles. We'd rather do a good job correctly and release later."