The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Priest with a difference

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 23, 2006
ePaper

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Priest with a difference

Staff Reporter

FOR A CAUSE: Archbishop Marempudi Joji releasing the DVD of the film in Hyderabad on Friday. Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

HYDERABAD: A priest who was in the forefront of the outcry against the controversial `Da Vinci Code' has himself turned a film producer, that too with a typical Bollywood flick. The only difference, however, is that his movie is a `message-oriented' one with a dash of masala to attract mainstream moviegoers.

Father Dominic Emmanuel, president of the Indian chapter of the international media organisation, Signis, is the clergyman who produced the recently released movie `Aisa Kyon Hota Hai?' Though the film did not have an encouraging run at the marquee, Fr. Emmanuel is not disappointed.

Fr. Emmanuel, in fact, states that he will continue to come out with brighter ideas to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS, which was the central theme of the movie that starred Rati Agnihotri and Aryan Vaid among others. The movie is about the role of love and loyalty towards the spouse and commitment in relationships in checking the spread of AIDS.

Incidentally, this is the first time that the Catholic Church of India is associated with producing a full-length Hindi feature film. With the box office response being quite cold, Fr. Emmanuel and his friends are now exploring other avenues to take the movie to more viewers, particularly the young generation.

The first such step was made here on Friday when Hyderabad Archbishop Marempudi Joji released a DVD version of the movie during an international seminar on `Social Marketing' organised by Signis. The DVD version comes in five Indian languages.

"The movie can be screened during special events so that people will get to know how our low self-risk perceptions makes us vulnerable to HIV,"says Fr. Emmanuel.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh