NEW DELHI: As images of resurrected mummies, bare chested men and scorpions flit across the screen, Egyptians and English-looking persons mouth lines like "Kyunki pyaar hai sada ke liye" (because love is forever) and "Pyaar ki seema nahin hain" (there are no boundaries for love).
Soon these images, part of a specially created promotional campaign in Hindi language, would be seen in non-English print medium products, outdoors and also channels like MTV, Sony and Cartoon Network heralding the fact that HBO's going partly desi.
The premier English movie channel will soon start airing English movies dubbed in Hindi and starting 25 April, HBO will kickstart the series with Mummy to be followed by Mummy Returns and Scorpion King over the next two weeks.
Pointing out that the new initiative, of airing movies dubbed in Hindi, will be implemented only in India, and is meant as a gesture of gratitude towards Indian viewers, HBO India head Shruti Bajpai told a press conference here today, "The dubbed movies should not be seen as a regular fixture. This is
our way of saying 'thank you Indian viewers' who have given us a thumbs up signal making HBO a better rated channel amongst film and some English channels."
HBO is also taking it's the Big One initiative forward by bringing over 50 top Hollywood movies during the summer months, which has been unveiled with a new tag line 'Summer is HBO' for Indian English movie lovers.
Bajpai also indicated that the channel is not looking at turning the dubbed English flicks as revenue generators, though the response from advertisers is "positive."
The HBO special programming extravaganza, starting April till June, includes an exhilarating line-up of blockbuster movies, award-winning series and HBO original films (including Mira Nair's Hysterical Blindness).
According to Bajpai, 'Summer is HBO' is a specially created destination comprising tailored entertainment offerings that cater to different tastes of Indian viewers. With the colossal annual offering 'HBO Summer Action Marathon', two big ones
that include Men In Black II, 30 episodes of world-wide cult HBO Original series Sex And The City, nine huge Saturday and Sunday night blockbusters, five popular movies as part of HBO Sizzling Nights and four blockbusters as part of HBO Kids Summer Action, there is certainly something for everyone, it seems.
In May as part of the HBO Saturday Nights at 9 pm and Superstar Sundays at 8 pm, HBO would air the action packed sci-fi blockbuster The One, starring Jet Li. Other blockbusters include America's Sweethearts', starring John Cusack, Oscar winners Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones, American Outlaws, Rollerball, The Astronaut's Wife starring Charlize Theron, Legend Of The Red Dragon, and the martial
arts expert turned Hollywood superstar Steven Seagal's The Glimmer Man.
The HBO Original Movies this summer include an intimate, character-driven, Emmy Award winning drama, Hysterical Blindness. This Mira Nair (of Monsoon Wedding fame) - directed flick stars Uma Thurman.
