Hollywood biggies go begging for theatres

in the land of aamir khan and sunny deol, hollywood has a problem. it just doesn't have enough place to unleash its fair-skinned superstars, particularly when the likes of ben affleck, angelina jolie and steven seagal are making an effort to speak in hindi. in other words, the dubbed versions of american blockbusters like pearl harbor, tomb raider and exit wounds are finding it difficult to get theatres in a city squeezed between a couple of bollywood hits and a barrage of forthcoming biggies."the dubbed versions of these hollywood films constitute 65 per cent of their collections," points sarabjit singh, general manager (india) paramount films, who delayed the release of tomb raider by three weeks to avoid clashing with the glut of new and old releases in theatres. "the fact is that hindi films get preference over dubbed hollywood films. so the only way we can cope with this situation is by spacing out our releases. on the other hand, we also can't delay the release of films for too long because pirated vcds, and even dvds, of the latest hollywood hits are easily available these days." the dubbed hindi version of a hollywood hit is usually released across nine to ten theatres in the city. but pearl harbor has just one theatre in the city running its dubbed version, while exit wounds found seagal speaking hindi in three theatres outside mumbai. "i had no option, but to release pearl harbor in this rush," explains uday singh of columbia tristar. "the point is there are theatres available, but they are not the kinds that excite you. so the only solution to this problem is a couple of multiplexes in the city. because it does mean a loss of revenue for us, particularly in mumbai; for we do get theatres in other parts of the country." while hollywood has been pushed into a corner by bollywood's barrage of releases, it is also finding its biggest blockbusters pitted against each other. so the dinosaurs of jurassic park 3 will fight for its audience with the simians of planet of the apes. and in the weeks to come we'll see tomb raider, kiss of the dragon, swordfish, cats & dogs and evolution.