Bollywood craze appears to have gripped Ethiopian youth. They are
willing to sit through a usually three-hour-
long movie at a shanty-house with only an
unskilled translator as their guide to a
language they do not understand.
Most of the translators in this East African
nation of 85 million people, with old ties to
India, are hardly fluent; so audiences make
guestimates based on the very expressive
faces of the actors.
Thus, it is quite common in this capital and
in other cities across to see youngsters and
the not-so-young mimicking scenes out of
movies like Ram Jaane, Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai, Jeena Sirf Mere Liye, Kal
Ho Naa Ho,
Mujhse Dosti Karoge!, Mujhse Shaadi
Karogi, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Mohabbatein,
Dosti, Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Chori Chori Chupke Chupke while speaking
in the native Amharic.
Getachew Diriba, 33, is one of the popular
translators in the capital, born and brought
up in the Addis Ketema neighbourhood
where there were three cinemas and
innumerable shanty-houses showing
Bollywood films.
He translated his first film, Laadla (1994) when he was just 19. It
opened his eyes to
Hindi cinema though back then, he was
paid only eight birr (less than 50 cents).
What kept him going was the repeated
clapping of the audiences. Now, he's lost
track of the number of movies he has translated.
"It was fun," Diriba told IANS. "It was like
being in a football field where fans shout,
jump and clap whenever their team
performs well. I was in the middle of
things, voicing the actions on the screen to
those who had no idea of Hindi," he added.
He believes that translation is not about
knowing each and every word spoken so
he does so contextually. Most of the time
he happens to be right, for what he says
and the action on screen are somehow
similar.
"It's hard to say I am fluent. Reading about
India helped me to get the main points
right" Diriba added.
How does he do it? By sitting in the front
row and speaking very loudly so that the
200-odd people sitting and standing
around him can hear.
Cinema Ethiopia, which is among the
oldest and most popular theatres showing
Hindi movies, first started doing so at the
time of the Italian occupation (1936-41)
on the recommendations of its film
suppliers, who were Indians. It is the place that has stamped the
memory of Hindi
movies on the hearts of Ethiopians.
It is in this cinema that Asmera Belachew,
60, a retired accountant who has been
watching Hindi movies since she was 10,
cried with Nargis in Mother India. Ditto with Sharmila Tagore in Aradhana.
Decades ago, Hindi movies came with
Arabic subtitles and she had no clue about
either language. Yet, the movies had her
mesmerised. There are other ways too of accessing
Hindi movies. For instance, at Merkato,
perhaps the largest open market in Africa,
where there are more than 70 shops that
rent out Hindi movies. Many of them
download from the internet but some like Israel Dibaba, the owner of Debora
Records, obtains them from travellers and
other sources.
Dibaba, who says he and his friends were
planning to celebrate the centenary of
Hindi cinema but the plans unfortunately
fell through, sells some 15 CDs a day for 20
birr each, earning him 300 birr. He has a collection of movies from the
1960s till the most recent ones; from those
with legendary actors like Rajesh Khanna
to those with Ranbir Kapoor and Imran
Khan.
Quite naturally, Hindi movies have
impacted on local directors and
filmmakers.
"In Hindi films, the depth of the human
factor is a reflection of society and this
enables communication with the
audiences, even if they are from a
different culture and tradition," Yonas
Berhane Mewa, managing director of Ethio Films, said. He is now
planning a film on an Ethiopian
family and is referring to Mother India to study how Nargis essayed her role.
"The movie is about an Ethiopian mother
who goes through a very difficult time in
life and this has been clearly presented in
an incredible way in 'Mother India'," Mewa
said.
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