Thriving on the popular
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Shruti Bajpai on what keeps HBO unchallenged.
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Sense and sensibility Shruti Bajpai
We thought with the advent of world cinema on Indian television, the English film channels must be feeling the heat, but if Shruti Bajpai, Country Manager HBO, South Asia, is to be believed there is nothing to worry about. She feels nothing can beat
the action and comedy of Hollywood and the audience in the region are in love with the genres. “Yes, we can run a series of serious movies and this we are doing by showcasing movies like ‘Blood Diamond’, ‘Darfour’ and ‘The Inconvenient Truth’ but the bread and butter comes from the likes of ‘Spiderman’ and ‘Shrek’.”
According to Shruti, what HBO has learnt from these channels is the introduction of subtitles. “The idea was in the pipeline for a long time. We have gone about it in a selected manner. Films like ‘Brokeback Mountain’ have a prominent American drawl which many of us don’t understand. Such films do require subtitles. But you don’t require subtitles for ‘Spiderman’.”
She is ecstatic because Bollywood has not done well in the last one year. “While during the same period Hollywood has given many hits. Films like ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ and ‘Transformers’ will soon be seen on HBO.” But at the same time, she insists, what makes the channel stand out among other English movie channels is the original programming with popular series like “Sex and the City” and “Entourage”.
Censorship issues
Talking about censorship issues, Shruti says the channel does an in-house censorship before going to the Censor Board. “The rule is only U and UA films could be shown on television. So we try to acquire films which after cuts retain their sense. Most of the times it works. It is only when films like ‘300’ could not be cleared that we felt we could not show a good film because of the law.”
Yet we have films likes “Buddha Mar Gaya” being aired at 12 noon on Sunday? Shruti prefers silence, but points out, “Even when we get a UA certificate and the license to show the film at any time of the day we keep the sensibility of the audience in mind. Like we deliberately slotted ‘Brokeback Mountain’ after 9 p.m. because we feel many won’t be able to relate to the subject.”
There is not much in the late night slot on television and this is the space World Movies has tried to capture. “We have also started Wicked Hour but there is not much audience for this slot. In the last few years the female audience for English films has increased so it is no longer a male dominated segment.”
Shruti says she is not sure whether the new channels that have come up have something to do with TRPs or turnover. “Some of them are there to complete the bouquet, others are there as part of a media house’s exercise to test the waters. The fight remains between Star Movies and HBO.”
ANUJ KUMAR
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