Filmy to ride on Rajnikanth wave, acquires non-Hindi movies

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.