UAE | Society
A 16mm rewind: Bringing Bollywood to UAE
Textile businessman recalls pioneering efforts in bringing Bollywood to expat and Arab homes
- By Sharmila Dhal, Senior Reporter, XPRESS
- Published: 00:00 December 1, 2011
- Image Credit: Francois Nel/XPRESS
- Laxman Bhatia with snaps of Assandas Rupchand, front, and Ramchand Rupchand who brought Bollywood movies to UAE homes and, inset, a poster from the 1948 hit movie Mela.
DUBAI: This is a family that brought Bollywood into the homes of residents long before the concept of home entertainment or the UAE as we know them today came about.
Yet, Laxman Bhatia, 65, will take none of the credit. A textile businessman who has been in Dubai since 1963, he is quick to clarify that it was his late father Assandas Rupchand and uncle Ramchand Rupchand — now in India — who pioneered a trend in private viewing by renting out 16mm reels of popular Bollywood films.
It all began at a personal level. The Rupchand brothers, who were textile merchants, enjoyed movies and would import 16mm films of their favourites from London and India to watch them on a projector at home. They would invite relatives and friends for the private viewing.
As word spread, others started asking them if they could also watch the films. The family thought it was a good idea, and better still if they could turn it into a business. So they established a company called Roopson's Films in 1965 and began renting out the movies they imported.
HUGE DEMAND
The films were in Hindi and in black and white. "We would rent them out on a daily basis along with a projector. We had around 20 projectors and a few hundred reels of the films," said Bhatia, who used to keep accounts, rewind the films and check for damages with his brother Mohan.
The rentals did not come cheap — upwards of Dh100 — and it was the viewer's responsibility to collect and drop off the films. But that in no way acted as a deterrent.
"Although 35mm films were shown in the cinemas, there was a huge demand for our films, especially over the weekends as we did not have any form of home entertainment then. Besides individuals and families, our clients included several companies, hotels, labour accommodation and hospitals. Some of them even came from Abu Dhabi and Fujairah," says Bhatia.
Some early titles included Do Aankhen Barah Haath, Shabab and Mela. "Hoor-E-Arab was a big hit with Arab families."
The films were regularly shown in the open ground at the Indian Association as well. "I still remember how they would be screened on a white sheet initially and then on a white wall with a Bell & Howell projector. Each film would come in four reels. So we would have an interval every time a reel had to be changed." "We've come a long way since those early days," says Bhatia, adding that the advent of video and DVDs eventually nudged them off the film business in 1995.
Married with two daughters, he says he and his brother continue to run the family textile business, supplying uniforms to hotels, hospitals and schools.
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