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Bollywood debuts on mobile screen
Published on Thu, Feb 15, 2007 at 11:17, Updated on Wed, Jun 20, 2007 at 05:00 in Entertainment section
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New Delhi: It didn't create the usual big bang associated with any Bollywood release. Instead, Bollywood made a quiet debut on mobile screen early this week when the first feature films were premiered for mobile viewers at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday.
What this means is that thousands of Bollywood productions will now be available to users through an agreement with mobile roaming and solutions company Roamware, and Bollywood content aggregator Hungama Mobile. This is for the first time that Bollywood films are coming to mobile phones.
The Bollywood Mobile Initiative is driven by Roamware, provider of roaming and mobile connectivity solutions; Hungama Mobile, aggregator, developer and publisher of Indian entertainment and Bollywood content; Sanjay Gupta, Bollywood director; and the GSM Association (GSMA), the global trade association for mobile operators.
Roamware's Media Call technology is providing the capability to integrate the cinematic content into the everyday mobile experience for film fans. "Media Call redefines mobile communications from voice to visual media, enabling the sharing and promotion of film clips to accelerate the growth of the mobile movie market," said Bobby Srinivasan, CEO of Roamware.
Two Bollywood short films Zahir and Matrimony were premiered in Barcelona on Tuesday. These films are a part of the feature film Dus Kahaniyaan (10 stories) produced by Sanjay Gupta of White Feather Films, starring Dia Mirza, Suneil Shetty, Sanjay Dutt, Neha, Mandira Bedi, Aftab Shivdasani and many others.
"Bollywood today is the world's largest movie industry, producing more than a thousand movies a year with an audience of more than two billion viewers across 127 countries. Formatting that content for the mobile audience and ensuring simplicity of delivery and accessibility provides staggering reach and revenue possibilities," said Srinivasan.
"The GSMA is delighted to welcome the stars and directors from the Bollywood world to the world's largest mobile event," said Bill Gajda, Chief Marketing Officer of the GSMA.
"We are excited by the tremendous potential for Bollywood entertainment on mobile phones, and delighted to support the efforts of Roamware and Hungama Mobile in their commitment to bringing a rich array of Indian film entertainment to the fourth screen for a global audience of millions."
Bollywood is one of the fastest growing entertainment industry segments and has an appeal not only for the 150 million mobile phone users in India but for markets across all continents. Indian cinema is now dubbed in over 35 languages and accounts for as much as 16.5% of theatrical business in markets such as the UK. Indian films have made it into the top 10 charts in markets such as USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore and South Africa.
More than 3.6 billion admission tickets are sold each year, and now will be on some 2.5 billion mobile screens
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