online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com
B U S I N E S S in d ia
Cinema Experience Changes in UAE, but not Love for Indian Movies
ABU DHABI: Time was when a Remembering the old times, he movies. We buy about two to five garage would be turned into a movie said: “In the 1960s, they opened two prints of Malayalam movies.” hall and people would sit on sand to cinema halls. In Doha, there used to Golchin says the Rajnikanth watch on. But the movie experience be a garage and they used to turn it and Aishwarya Rai sci-fi thriller has seen a sea change in the United into a theatre at night. People used “Endhiran” has been the biggest Arab Emirates (UAE) Tamil release here. - today some cinema “We bought 10 prints companies operate for the Tamil version more than 300 screens and 10 for the Hindi equipped with worldversion of the film.” class technology and Golchin’s company release hundreds of Phars Film distributes Indian films every Hindi Bollywood year. films in the region Phars Film, a with partner company, pioneering film Al Nisr. industry firm in the About the ongoing Middle East, which Abu Dhabi Film distributes Asian Festival, Golchin Bollywood, Tamil, feels it provides Telugu, Malayalam an opportunity to - and American watch class movies. independent titles, “The films shown usually releases 250 Priyanka Chopra, one of the top paid heroines for Hindi movies here are not always Indian movies as well has reason to smile. UAE has become the hub for Indian commercial films. movies, a favorite among Arabs, about 250 films out of the as popular English 1000 movies made in India are released here every year. Festivals are good titles. for class movies,” he “There are more than 300 cinema to sit on the sand and those who said. screens and more are coming up all could shell out some extra money, Bilal Sabouni, the newly appointed the time. We are releasing movies they used to get to sit on Pepsi Cola Phars Film Group general manager, simultaneously here. Not only boxes and watch the movies. In old said the company is gearing up to Indian movies, we even release times there was no TV. People used make a mark on the world map by English movies - sometimes even to enjoy going to movies.” building the world’s single largest a day before the world premier English movies entered the Gulf cinema complex. opening,” Ahmad Golchin, founder region in the 1970s. He said the number of screens is and CEO of Phars Film, said. “But at that time we used to have significantly larger “Arabs love Indian movies,” he late releases. In the 1990s, we than any other said. “India makes about 1,000 films started releasing English movies complex anywhere a year and among them we release simultaneously and Arabs loved it. in the world. about 250 movies. For them English movies became “We are looking to “We release them every Thursday number one. But Asians still like take our established and give it a week to pick up. If watching Indian movies.” industry strength the film is good we run it for five The UAE has the second highest and branch out into weeks and sometimes 10 weeks as Indian diaspora in the Gulf region other entertainmentwell. ‘Dabangg’ ran for six weeks after Saudi Arabia. related industries and it is still running in theatres,” “There is a demand for Malayalam, such as gaming, he added. Tamil and Telugu movies. We buy production and even Golchin, also founder and the distribution rights for three to events management managing partner of Gulf Film seven years. For Indian movies to name a few,” which distributes Hollywood and we get minimum five prints and Sabouni said. Arab films, says he has been in the maximum 45 prints. Usually we business for 46 years. take five prints for non-commercial
Indo American News • Friday, October 22 , 2010
27
SEWA Transforming Women’s Lives in Rural India: Clinton WASHINGTON (ET): Terming NGO ‘SEWA’ as one of the most effective women’s organizations in the world, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it has transformed the lives of many poor women in India. “Last year in Mumbai, I visited a shop owned and operated by women selling crafts and textiles, most of whom come from the very lowest socioeconomic stratum, all of whom are organized through one of the most effective women’s organizations in the world, Self-Employed Women’s Association known as SEWA,” Clinton said. “I’ve worked with SEWA for many years. I have literally seen the transformation in lives that banding together has catalyzed in individual women’s lives,” Clinton said in her remarks at the 12th Annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington. “I also, last summer, went back to Cape Town, and for the third time, I visited a group of women who, on their own, transformed their position as squatters into homeowners and then community leaders. I’d already been to one of the housing developments that these women through their own sweat equity had created, and this time I went to the second housing development that they are starting,”
she said. “The women that I have come to know don’t have much education, but they are among the most powerful and effective women I have ever met. And they have created now two thriving communities where before there was apathy if not despair,” Clinton said. “I’ve been all over the world talking to women who have overcome odds that even I find daunting, thinking about coming from oppression and repression, coming to stand against family members who want to keep you down, government officials, and other threats,” she said. “When I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo last summer, I met some of the most extraordinary women I’ve ever seen anywhere in the world, women who themselves had been brutally attacked and assaulted, left for dead, but who refused to die, and who are now part of a healing community,” she said. “I also have talked with a number of women who are making their own entrepreneurial mark on the world, from Jerusalem to Islamabad, meeting women who are taking the tool of micro enterprise and turning it into better lives for themselves and creating supportive communities,” Clinton said.
Galveston Historical Foundation, Texas, brings you Dickens on the Strand, Dec 4 & 5: Dickens on The Strand will take you and your family on an enchanted journey through history as a bustling 19th Century cityscape comes to life. For an entire weekend, hundreds of costumed vendors and performers will provide a look at the pomp and pageantry of the British Empire, at a time when commercial and cultural ties provided a strong connection between London and Texas’ largest and richest city. QUALIFY for FREE Tickets for your family. A great education experience for your kids. We would like to know how many of our readers would like to travel back in time to a Dickensian Era. Email us: indoamericannews@yahoo.com
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM