Akshay Kumar, who is well known in the European and British markets through Bollywood films, endorses an exclusive brand of diamonds.
Mumbai: Aug 14, 2005/Sawf News Service/ --Kishore Lulla and his company called Eros International was tops in the overseas market for Indian Hindi films for a long time. It is rumoured that he could call up stars like Shah Rukh Khan (Chalte Chalte) and Amitabh Bachchan (Baghban) and tell them exactly when their films ought to be released. Lulla had almost no competition in the foreign market. Bollywood observers see a huge change in the scenario in the past one-year. As Bollywood movies begin to hit the top ten charts in UK with awesome regularity over weeks – sometimes two to five films make it to the top ten list simultaneously – other distributors are awakening to the moolah which Bollywood films can rake in. The potential of Hindi films is growing rapidly. With Afro Asian communicating across Europe, people from the Middle East, Yemen, Morocco, Pakistan and Malaysia are counting in their millions as the fans of Indian superstars like Aishwarya Rai, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and even Salman Khan.
In recent times, Dus, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt opened on 22 screens in UK and earned sterling pounds 104468 in the opening weekend! Parineeta performed well and grossed sterling pounds 450000. Virudhdh has done exceedingly well. Now other production houses are gearing up to start their European operations in earnest. UTV is one among them. Sahara One Motion Pictures is another. Yashraj Films has been in the UK and Switzerland for some time. As Robert Mitchell, a prominent box office analyst in the UK says, “Bollywood films feature regularly in the top 30 international film charts. Nothing further needs to be said.” Toby Stephens, a British actor who has performed an important role in 1857 – The Rising says, “Anyone living in the UK has to be aware of Bollywood. Hindi cinema is a part of British culture now.”
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