Mumbai, Dec 16 (IANS) Ketan Mehta's 'Rang Rasiya', a tribute to 19th century painter Raja Ravi Varma, is set to release Jan 23 and producer Aanand Mahendroo has planned a nationwide art competition to set the mood for the film.

'It is true we are doing it to some extent to promote the film, but it is not the sole cause. We are starting the registration from Dec 21. The whole process of holding the competition, judging and declaring the winner will be done by March 31,' Mahendroo told IANS.

Mahendroo said they are doing it to provide a platform to those artists who have immense talent but can't showcase it due to lack of resources.

'I think there cannot be a better opportunity to provide them a platform than this because our film is based on one of the greatest artists of the country,' Mahendroo said.

'This concept is weaved in such a way that it will helps us in bringing out hidden talents in our country. We are indeed hunting for a new visionary artist in the 21st century,' he added.

Commenting on the prize money, Mahendroo said: 'We have a budget of of Rs.2.5 million for the prize. We will shortlist 20 finalists. The first winner will get Rs.1 million. The second winner will receive a sum of Rs.500,000 and the third prize is Rs.200,000.'

'The rest of the money will be divided equally among the other 17 finalists,' he added.

The competition will be held on an all India basis with regional centres in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram and Bhopal.

Interested participants can register themselves on www.rangrasiya.com and then on evaluation of their work 1,000 participants will be short-listed.

All the participants will have to do a project and then present it in front of the judges at their respective centres. Four candidates from each centre will be selected as finalists.