By: Sima Malhotra

You can watch anything on YouTube nowadays – even new releases of Bollywood films.

Indian Film Co. and its affiliate Studio18 has announced its upcoming film Striker will make its international debut on YouTube on February 5th, coinciding with the Indian release.

It is the first time ever a film will premiere on the popular file-sharing medium, according to Indian Film Co. and Studio 18.

“We are excited about this association, as this will help us reach out to our audience in a focused manner and a very cost-effective way,” Sandeep Bhargava, Indian Film Company’s CEO, told reporters.

A film about a carom player working the underground circuit to make ends meet, Striker will be available for rent for free on Studio18’s YouTube channel; however, the film will not be available for rental in India.

“In order to ensure that the revenue from the Indian theatrical release are maximized, the movie will be not be available for the YouTube traffic originating from India,” a Studio18 representative said in its statement.

Still, YouTube hopes this deal with Studio 18 and Indian Film Co. will be a precursor for other production companies to rely upon the social networking website as a destination to distribute its content online.

“Our goal at YouTube is to create a comprehensive destination for online video with a range of content, from user-generated clips to full-length shows and movies,” Amit Agrawal, head of partnerships at YouTube, told reporters. “We’re particularly excited to have the premiere of Striker on YouTube and available to Bollywood fans around the world.”

Representatives at Studio 18 also announced they are looking forward to premiering other films on YouTube, as well.

“This is a redefining moment,” Hemand Bhardwaj, Studio 18’s senior vice-president of international business, told reporters. “The success of this project will put wings to our films, which are rich in content but unable to find optimal distribution abroad because they don’t feature the conventional stars.”