The last Bollywood film that released in Israel was the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Devdas. Now after a gap of over 10 years, Eros International is all set to release the upcoming Ranbir Kapoor-Deepika Padukone starrer Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani in the country.
“The release date of the movie in India as well as in Israel happens to be on the same date. There is a huge demand for these movies since Israelis and the local Indian population over there is fond of Indian content”, says Kumar Ahuja-President-Business Development–Eros International. “Earlier Bollywood content was available on DVDs and Indian channels, but this can very well be called the beginning of theatrical age of Hindi movies in Israel”, he adds.
The Ayan Mukherji directed film has been subtitled in Hebrew for the audience there and is currently being promoted on television channels across the country.
Commenting on why no Bollywood film has released in Israel in the last decade, Kumar Ahuja says, “There was no solid distributor in Israel until now and getting prints of the movie is an expensive process. But now Shai Motion Pictures (an Israeli Distributor) has invested in a portable projector which gives them the mobility to showcase movies at different locations at a cost that is much lesser.”
The foreign distributors are equally thrilled about the film. “We are looking forward to it. It is after a long gap, after Devdas that any Indian movie will release here, this itself calls for celebration and we are anticipating good numbers’ says Shai Solomon, of Shai Motion Pictures.
