The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : The man who took Indian movies to South Africa

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 28, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

The man who took Indian movies to South Africa

"Tamil movies made members of the apartheid regime rub shoulders with Indians"

`Jakarb' means lightning in a South African language. That is what Prabhu Nepal calls his entertainment company. This lightning man, born in the `dark continent,' has taught the various communities in South Africa what entertainment is about. Until then, Indians in South Africa did not watch Tamil movies on the big screen.

Cinema and entertainment were a purely `white man's affair during the apartheid regime, Prabhu Nepal, producer, director and actor of small screen industry tells T. A. Narasimhan.

Prabhu's family was part of a large Indian community that lived in Durban. His family had connections with Nelson Mandela. His grandmother Lakshmi was a freedom fighter associated with the African National Congress (ANC). His sister still works as Dr. Mandela's PRO.

He breezily narrates his days in Durban and speaks about the oppression of the blacks under the apartheid regime and how he could not be a silent spectator to the servile attitude of Indians towards South Africans.

He started organising cultural shows to change their indifference to the plight of the blacks. Dr. Mandela became his inspiration. To this day, Dr. Mandela's words determine events in Prabhu Nepal's family.

Turning point

The `turning point' did come when one of his cultural shows against the apartheid regime caused ripples. Looking at the response, Prabhu decided to use `entertainment and cinema' to convey a strong message to the regime that Indians, who were segregated in public places - at shopping malls, in public toilets — were far superior to them culturally, technologically and intellectually.

A Bharatanatyam dancer himself, Prabhu conducted dance shows in a big way to create a bond between the Indians and the blacks.

The shows were an instant hit, even among the blacks. Twenty schools teaching Bharatanatyam were started and more blacks joined. Looking at the response, the Indian consulate gazetted Prabhu for launching these schools.

He became a cultural Ambassador and began to build bridges between countries - between South Africa and India; between Singapore and India and later between the Maldives and India.

As part of a cultural exchange project, he took Bollywood and Kollywood movies to various parts of South Africa. Indian movies attracted the oppressed black and the ruling white men alike.

Tamil movies brought a remarkable change in the situation. Besides gaining respect for the Indian community, these movies made members of the apartheid regime rub shoulders with Indians.

Prabhu introduced the icons of Tamil Nadu such as Kamal Hassan, Rajnikanth and Ilayaraja to South Africans.

Durban descent

He beams when he speaks about his descent from Durban. "I came to Chennai to carry the deep-rooted culture here to Durban but in the process I got involved with the small screen industry here. My first serial was `Aadhar Shila' produced for Doordarshan. I became so busy that I could not find time to return to Durban."

Prabhu always produces programmes on an experimental basis. It was he who introduced sitcom to viewers in Tamil Nadu. Krishna Cottage, his sitcom show in Jaya TV is widely received. "A layman in Tamil Nadu shells out 10 per cent of his meagre income for entertainment and the producers must realise this. The programmes should give utmost satisfaction to the layman. My programmes are stress-busters and I ensure that viewers go to bed with a smile on their faces.''

Nine of his serials have bagged academy awards in Singapore and seven have won awards in Malaysia. He beams with pride when he says music critic Subbudu wrote to him heaping praise on his `Krishna Dasi.'

Prabhu Nepal insists that parental guidance is a must for children watching TV programmes.

"My wife Kutti Padmini is really the woman behind my success. It is she who pushed me out of her shadow saying that I should build my own empire,'' he says.

At present, Prabhu is focussing on cross-cultural Indian English films

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