Bollywood made its presence in the Polish market when "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" was released here, with
posters of Kajol and Kareena Kapoor visible all over the capital.
This is the first time a Bollywood film with Polish subtitles is being exhibited in five places in Poland
simultaneously.
Big publicity has been given to this movie and the name has been changed into "Sometimes Sunshine and
Sometimes Rain" which is very appropriate for the Polish audience who understand this everyday idiom to
grasp the nuances of life and which is typical to Polish weather also.
The media coverage, which includes TV commercials, is fantastic. Very rarely do foreign films get such
massive publicity. The CD of this film has been released at the same time and Polish FM radio stations are
constantly playing the songs, particularly, "You are my Sonia" and "Shawa Shawa".
"The real problem is the length of the film and to sustain interest for 210 minutes is a huge task," says Anna
Bem, an Indian film fan who has seen more than 100 Hindi movies when she lived in India.
"The fact of the matter is most of the people have never seen an Indian movie with dances, songs and
absolutely melodramatic scenes. Their curiosity is leading them to movie theatres, rather than anything
special," said Stanislaw Tokarski, a specialist on India at the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Indian Ambassador Anil Wadhwa tells that 18 Bollywood films have been selected to be exhibited in the Polish
market this year.
"We are quite happy with the Polish response so far and let us hope the Polish audience will get hooked to our
movies and songs."
Meanwhile, Dialog Publishers here have brought out Shashi Tharoor's book "Bollywood" in the Polish language
with a scene from "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham".
Poland is swayed by Bollywood!
Tuesday, January 25, 2005 15:39 IST
