Bollywood hits boost Polish newspaper sale!

By Surender Bhutani

Warsaw, Oct 2 (IANS) In order to arrest its sagging sale, well-known Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza evolved a new marketing technique. It offered a Bollywood DVD film every Saturday at a concessional price to its readers. The result: sales of the paper goes up by 50,000 copies.

If one buys Gazeta Wyborcza's weekend issue and pays the quivalent of $2.50 extra, one can take home a Bollywood film with Polish subtitles.

Shah Rukh Khan is the most popular Indian star in Poland and his films such as "Kal Ho Naa Ho", "Dil Se", and "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" are the most in demand.

The craze for Bollywood films and Shah Rukh Khan started with the release of "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" in January 2005.

This coming weekend, the attraction will be Aamir Khan's "Fanaa", the climax of which was shot at the Tatra mountains in Poland.

"Bollywood is the buzzword in Poland these days and the demand for Bollywood films is increasing every year," J.J. Singh, president of the Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce, told IANS.

"Recently, a new restaurant, named Bollywood Lounge, which offers Indian cuisine along with Bollywood songs and dances, has attracted a lot of new customers," Singh said.

Janusz Krzyzowski, president of the India-Poland Cultural Committee, said: "Bollywood films have attracted thousands of Poles to know more about India. Some 15,000 people are going to India every year."

"My book on Bollywood poetry has hit the stands recently and the response is very positive. India is truly on the Polish radar screen," Krzyzowski told IANS.

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