| MUMBAI:
Riding high on the Rajnikanth wave, Filmy will begin a festival of movies starring
the South Indian superstar under the title Shaniwaar ki Raat Rajnikanth ki
Laat.
The
films will be screened every Saturday at 8 pm starting 11
August. Sahara's Filmy channel has acquired titles like Johny
Ustaad, Dushmanon ka Dushman and Ilaka but has
stayed away from the recent grosser Sivaji.
Filmy,
in fact, is eyeing the non-Hindi film segment. It has recently acquired some South
Indian films and is looking to acquire Bhojpuri films as well. Says
Filmy business head Shailesh Kapoor, "We have acquired some South Indian
films starring actors like Rajnikanth, Mammooty and Surya that will be dubbed
in Hindi and screened on the channel from August." Post
September, the channel plans to leverage the popularity of Bhojpuri cinema and
infuse fortnightly screenings of the same. The channel has earlier shown the Amitabh
Bacchan starrer Bhojpuri film Ganga on 22 April. Kapoor
says, "Being a Hindi movie channel, our focus is not on Bhojpuri films but
looking at their current popularity, we are in talks to acquire few big ticket
Bhojpuri movies." The
channel has also spruced up their programming mix by introducing a Sunday morning
slot for kids between 10 am to 2 pm. Presently the channel is showing The Jungle
Book which will be followed by other properties which the channel claims are
unexposed to Indian audiences. Kapoor
says, "There are a few locally produced shows that will be aired. We will
also showcase some international properties which will be dubbed in Hindi and
shown in the same slot soon after The Jungle Book concludes in September." Apart
from movies, Filmy recently announced its first reality show Bathroom Singer
for which auditions are under way. The weekly show will be a Sunday prime-time
offering and will go on air from 26 August. | 
