Africa and Bhutan on Tollywood radar

Tollywood is heading for an African Safari. Soon, exotic African locales could become a feature of Bengali films and Tollywood blockbusters might ramp up the heat in African movie
markets, a la big brother Bollywood.

Priya Entertainment, one of the leading entertainment companies in Tollywood, has initiated discussions to acquire movie halls at Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, the east African country bordering the Gulf.
It is also working on a proposal of the Ethiopian government to set up an integrated film city near Addis Ababa, a five-hour flight from Mumbai. The overseas plans of Priya Entertainment include a multiplex in Bhutan’s capital Thimphu — the first for the city.

The group operates six entertainment complexes in West Bengal that include Star Theatre and Priya Cinema in Kolkata and Geetanjali in Bolpur. Each complex has a movie theatre, restaurants, banquet and conference halls.

The managing director of Priya Entertainment, Arijit Dutta, feels that Ethiopia and its neighbouring African countries, like Somalia and Kenya, could be ideal locations for outdoor shooting. “These are exotic locations and quite cheap compared to South-East Asia or even Mumbai. Ethiopia could be a distribution hub for Hindi and Bengali films in Africa as well,” he said.

Elaborating on the plans, he said that the Ethiopian government has earmarked 6,000 hectares of land for a film city near Addis Ababa. “They have asked us to set up the film city. We have two meetings scheduled with Ethiopian minister for culture, Mohd Darir. If things materialise, it could be a good location for Bengali films,” he said, pointing out that Bollywood is doing good business in Africa. Tollywood could replicate this, he said.

“We can make double version films in Bengali and Ahmaric (the Ethiopian language) and I believe that it will make good business sense to utilise some African locations also,” he said.

The company is acquiring seven cinemas in Addis Ababa for a start, the Priya MD said. “These are all owned by the government. The scope of business is quite good. The average movie ticket in Addis Ababa is around Rs 70-80 (in Indian currency) and there is a good movie crowd in the capital city,” he said.

Commenting on Bhutan, he said that Priya is joining hands with Kolkata-based Tai Industries for a multiplex in Thimphu. Tai has business interests in Bhutan. A Bhutan consulate official said there are only two single screen cinema halls in Thimphu. If the multiplex comes up, it will be the first in the Bhutanese capital.