Dilwale came out almost 2 months ago, which means the DVD could be released any day now.  I’m a little spoiled, since I live ten minutes from the biggest Indian immigrant neighborhood in my region, I can just swing by the DVD store everyday on my way home from work and ask about availability.  But for you poor people who did not organize your entire lives around access to Indian DVDs, it might be a little trickier.

So, here are the rumors I have gathered so far from the internet.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:  Shantisal pointed out in the comments, it is currently available on Itunes!  For both rent and sale!  And also, apparently, Googleplay!  I still want the DVD, of course, because I Neeeeeeed the special features.  But this will make a nice stopgap!

EVEN MORE IMPORTANT UPDATE: njmtv.com has dvd pre-order available with a release date of Feb 28th! I love njmtv, partly because I used to rent from their storefront location when my sister lived in New Jersey.

The shopkeepers, of course, always just tell me that it is coming out any day now, maybe next week.  Which is mostly so I will keep coming in and buying something else so long as I am there.  But I actually think is partially just the best information they have.  Even when I can track down an official release date for a film, half the time it gets moved up or bumped back randomly based on if it is still running in theaters.  Plus, the pure logistical difficulties of getting a DVD from India to Me.  There was a time recently when a DVD I was looking for was delayed an extra couple of days because the planes were grounded in Delhi.  Or, as all three shopkeepers put it when I popped my head in to their respective stores to ask about status, “Sorry, maybe next week, monsoons in Delhi.”

But it is still worth while trying to find an objective date on the internet!  Especially if I am feeling lazy and just want the DVD to magically appear in my mailbox instead of waiting for a shop to have it.  Or if I am trying to dodge American release dates and order it direct from India, even on PAL, as soon as it is ready.

So, what’s the gossip on Dilwale?  Amazon.de has both a blue-ray and a DVD available for pre-order, with a release date of April 29th.  And they have what looks like real images of the cases, which seems to imply that there are actual blu-rays and DVDs already manufactured and existing somewhere in the world.  I trust the Germans implicitly, of course, because they are very good with dates and numbers.  But, Dilwale was released there 3 weeks after the rest of the world, perhaps some other country may have the DVD a little sooner?

Amazon.uk claims they have a copy for sale now, but it is 51.95 pounds, which seems exorbitant, and the image is the just the same as the one for the CD.  Which screams “highly illegal bootleg!” to me.  But if anyone is in England and has 51.95 pounds (or Euros? I don’t recognize the symbol they are using) to spare, here it is!

Ebay, where you can order direct from shopkeepers worldwide, has a several options!  All blatantly illegal.  For instance, a two in one pack of Dilwale and Ghayal Once Again shipping from Australia!  Since Ghayal Once Again was just released last weekend, I really really doubt it is already legal to sell on DVD.  Now, these illegal options are tempting, but ultimately not worth it (in my experience).  The quality is frustratingly poor, scenes are probably missing, and it may chew up your DVD player from the inside.

And then there’s Bhavanidvd, where I was able to pre-order Bahubali before anywhere else, but which also tends more towards regional cinema than Hindi.  They don’t even have Dilwale listed yet, which is a terrible sign, but maybe it is just because they are more regional than Hindi mainstream?

Induna.com does specialize in Hindi.  And they have it listed! But just under “coming soon”, no release date.  However!  You can request an email alert from them once it is finally available.  Although I know from experience that those emails came in batches and can be delayed up to 48 hours.  A whole 48 hours when you are Dilwale DVD-less and need not be!  But if you can live with that, probably signing up for the Induna email alert is your best bet at this point.

(or, you can always just read my incredibly detailed scene by scene description)