| mickthesick |
Posted
on 20-Apr-04 06:00 AM
JOHANNESBURG: The Bollywood film industry, enjoying a revival here over the last three years, has received an additional boost with the broadcast on public television of a season of top Hindi films for the first time.
The country's national public broadcaster, South African Broadcasting Corp ( SABC ), has started showing Bollywood films Saturday evenings for 13 weeks to test the market here for non-Indian viewers.
The first two screenings -- Devdas starring Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit, and the Mani Rathnam film Bombay -- have had huge responses from audiences who are seeing Bollywood films free on TV for the first time.
But it is still early to tell whether the promising doubling of the Saturday night audience will be consistent enough to ensure future airing of Bollywood products, according to ANU NEPAL, commissioning editor for SABC .
A film distributor herself before joining SABC , Nepal used her knowledge of the South African Bollywood market to secure some of the best films of recent years.
"The channel has been looking at the Bollywood industry quite closely and in line with their strategy to offer movies to viewers, it was decided to showcase a season of Bollywood movies to test the market," Nepal said.
"The global phenomenon of Bollywood is in line with the channel's objective of meeting the needs of its audience, which is locally rooted but globally connected."
Nepal emphasised the idea was not to introduce South African Indian audiences to Bollywood movies as they have had access for a long time through cinema, video, DVD and subscription TV channels like Zee TV, Sony Entertainment Television and B4U .
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I have nothing more to say than express respect for these Nepali women who gain success around the globe.
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