SOUTH AFRICA: INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY TAKES FULL ADVANTAGE OF ITS POPULARITY IN SOUTH AFRICA, HOME TO THE LARGEST INDIAN COMMUNITY OUTSIDE BOLLYWOOD

Record ID: 857371

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: INDIAN FILM INDUSTRY TAKES FULL ADVANTAGE OF ITS POPULARITY IN SOUTH AFRICA, HOME TO THE LARGEST INDIAN COMMUNITY OUTSIDE BOLLYWOOD
  • Date: 13th February 2003
  • Summary: FILM STARS TAKING A BOW AUDIENCE APPLAUDING BOLLYWOOD CELEBRITIES TAKING ANOTHER BOW
  • Embargoed: 28th February 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DURBAN AND JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
  • City:
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA9SU44ATDPTW3RVAVJKM24VQYK
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: South Africa is home to the largest community of Indians outside India and Bollywood, the Indian film industry is taking advantage.
    Singing, dancing and romancing, this movie scene has all the hallmarks of a successful Indian movie. Bollywood, as the Indian film industry is known, releases some eight hundred movies a year and it's starting to take the world by storm.
    "The Guru" fuses Bollywood and Hollywood, a sign that the Indian genre is starting to attract audiences far beyond the Indian subcontinent.
    South Africa has always been a big foreign market, as it's home to the largest Indian community outside India. But here, Bollywood movies have also been popular with non-Indians for some time. Most of the films are subtitled, so everyone can join in the fun. "The response to Bollywood movies here in South Africa has been overwhelming," says Ster Kinekor Cinemas' Pat Pillay. "And the response has been from all sectors of societies and often it's in the top ten. These films do really, really well, and it's largely because of the fact that it's good family entertainment."
    Despite Bollywood's success here, it remains a niche market. Indian movies are still a new phenomenon for South Africans. The cinemas here are dominated by films from Hollywood. "We are expecting to do between 700,000 and a million customers on the Bollywood circuit only for the whole year," explains Pat. "So it's still fairly small in SA, and of that there is a significant percentage that is non-Indian, so you can see, it's wonderful thing, the movies are actually crossing over and its doing in South Africa what its doing globally." he says It recently did more than that--ten of Bollywood's biggest film stars put on a show for their South African fans.
    It was a night filled with song and dance. Bollywood legend - Amitabh Bachchan says it was their way of saying thank you to South Africa's people. "I'm really grateful that so many of us have agreed to come here, and the idea really is that because you love our films so much, we feel that we should try and give you as much as we can at the concert,"
    said Movie star Amitabh Bachchan.
    Anant Singh is a well-known South African movie producer.
    He hopes that the presence of stars like Bachchan might help Durban and other parts of South Africa on the Bollywood map.
    "Cape town has been fortunate in getting a number of international films there, Durban has a lot to offer and I think they've been a bit slow off the mark to get some of that audience," he says.
    For the all star lineup, this is their final curtain call of the night. But if Bollywood has its way, the actors and their films will be coming back soon to a movie theatre near you.
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