Adlabs/BIG pioneers digital cinema subtitles for Bollywood films

One of the great things about working with Adlabs/Reliance ADAG is that the company is always open, nay, hungry, for new ideas. So when we came to BIG Cinemas with the proposal that we could screen Hindi films that we had mastered with English subtitles, they immediately saw the potential in terms of widening access to new audiences.

From Indiantelevision.com:

In a bid to attract the hearing-impaired and non-Hindi speaking audience to its theaters pan India, Reliance ADAG’s theatre chain Big Cinemas is planning to screen the forthcoming movies with English subtitles.

To begin with, Big Cinemas will screen the Amir Khan-starrer Ghajini with English subtitles from its second week at digital screens in BIG Cinemas’ Wadala and Metro BIG Cinemas in Mumbai.

“We wanted to expand our audience reach and hence, decided to take up this new initiative. This will ensure that the cinema medium can be enjoyed by a larger number of the public - especially the hearing impaired who could not earlier understand the dialogues,” says Big Cinemas COO Tushar Dhingra.

"The release of Ghajini, being an eagerly awaited film, was an ideal way for us to start offering this facility and will set a trend for future releases,” Dhingra adds.

If this works out the hope is that all the major Hindi-language films released will have special screenings to benefit 'goras' like myself and non-Hindi speaking Indians, as well as hearing impaired.

Adlabs has been subtitling prints that get sent overseas (Ghajini went to no less than 23 countries, including unlikely locations like Norway and New Zealand, on 300+ prints) for many years and we have done some tests in the past, but now this will be an integral part of the Adlabs Digitla Cinema service offering.

Bollywood and Terrorists - File Under: 'In Questionable Taste' (and hope it never sees the light of day)

First there was Bollywood. Then came the terrorists. Then the Chief Minister of the state of Maharastra was forced to resign, partly because he provided a personal 'terror tourism' tour to famed Bollywood director Ram Gopal Verma. While RGV may not be planning any film on the terror attacks (yet), this incident did not put off others, far less scrupulous.

From the Irish Times:

It has emerged that Bollywood film-makers have been queuing up to register film titles based on last month’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, prompting suggestions of insensitivity and bad taste.

According to the Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association in India’s film capital, Mumbai, at least 18 titles associated with the November 26th attacks, in which the city’s Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident hotels and a nearby Jewish centre were besieged by gunmen, have been registered so far.

These include: 26/11 Mumbai Under Terror; Operation Five-star Mumbai; Taj to Oberoi; 48 Hours at the Taj and Black Tornado.

According to Ujwala Londhe of the producers’ association, the first title was registered as early as November 28th, a day before the siege was lifted following firefights between national security guard commandos and the gunmen.

While there is of course a chance that one of these films, sorry, titles, may turn out to be as good as United 93, I highly doubt that the time is right yet for Bollywood to tackle recent events. This despite some very good pre-attack films that dealt with terrorism, such as A Wednesday and Mumbai Meri Jaan.

Mumbai terrorist attacks hurt box office

Perhaps not surprisingly, people getting shot and killed at the doorstep of cinemas (Metro BIG, to be precise) has had a dampening affect. I went and saw two films this past weekend, one older Bollywood release and one newer Hollywood, and both were playing in prime multiplexes to only about 20 per cent audiences. Not good.

These observations are backed up by the newspapers that surveys several cinema operators about people's refusals to go out for some out-of-home escapism. From the Times of India (Film theatres await fans' return):

A disappointed Manoj Desai, of G-7 multiplex, Bandra, said, "Nobody is going to cinema halls. The business is so bad that it is going to be difficult for businesses to recover the cost of air-conditioning a cinema hall. People are scared and don't want to venture out.''

The four films released on Friday were `Meerabai Not Out', `Maharathi', `O My God' and `Dil Kabbadi'. The paid previews and premieres for the releases were cancelled.

As they were medium-budget films, the real impact to the industry will be gauged only later this month, when bigger-budget films starring Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan are slated for release.

A vice-president of Cinemax Cinemas said, "We expect a weak period after 26/11.'' He hopefully added that business was also usually slow before a "King Khan coming''. "People are waiting for a major banner to go for a movie,'' he said.

So all eyes (and hopes) are pinned to YRF's big release this Friday Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, followed by Studio 18's and Warner Bros. India's Chandni Chowk to China, two and four weeks later respectively (not to mention big Hollywood releases like STAR-Fox's The Day The Earth Stood Still).

It is not just cinemas but restaurants that are also suffering, with another article informing us that 'Post-terror, eateries lose 35% business', again not surprising given what happened at Leopold Cafe. I didn't go to any five star hotel this week, but I'm sure that they were emptier for Sunday brunches than usual. Not that we are all afraid of terrorists striking at any moment, but there's just not the mood.

At least I did my bit for the cinemas this weekend, but more is needed. Let's make it the patriotic duty of all Indians to go to the cinema this coming weekend. I will be leading from the front - of the line at the box office.

(Photo credit: Maciej Dakowicz)

Update from Mumbai and Bollywood

Mumbai has been too much in the news for a rather unhappy reason lately. Fortunately our colleagues at Adlabs, as well as friends and families are unhurt, but killings were going on right outside our Metro BIG cinema and dozens of foreigners and Indians were killer and injured. The terror attacks have hit the box office, though hopefully people will find their way back to the cinemas to dream themselves away for a few hours.

This and other things mean that I will sadly have to give CineAsia a miss this year, which is a particular shame given that BIG Cinemas is honoured as International Exhibitor of the Year. But there is plenty of updates from Film Journal International on the film and cinema industry in India. Nyay Bhushan reports on how Bollywood billions: Indian distribution and production change with the times, while Kevin Lally report on how D vs. E: E-Cinema keeps foothold in India as 2K digital grows. Both articles are well worth reading.

Thank you, lastly, to all the friends and colleagues who have contacted me to make sure that we are all OK. Your kind thoughts and well wishes were much appreciated. These are unhappy times, but they do not weaken our resolve to stay on and make digital cinema happen in India.