When the North Koreans aren’t conducting nuclear tests, they’re watching films like Baahubali, Krrish
Thursday, September 7, 2017 IST
While they’re not celebrating ‘successful’ hydrogen bomb tests, North Koreans are apparently watching Bollywood hits like Bajirao Mastani and Krrish.
The Pyongyang International Film Festival, which celebrated its first year of existence in 1987, has had a long history of screening Indian films. Their website - which compiles a list of films screened at biannual event - mentions Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Hrithik Roshan’s Krrish as having been screened at the 2014 edition (in the Informative Screening category), while Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone’s Ram Leela, and Sunny Deol’s Singh Saab the Great were screened in competition the same year.
“It is a very positive way of cultural engagement and showing North Korean citizens another view on the world,” Nicholas Bonner, a China-based filmmaker who helps “coordinate foreign films shown” at the festival told us through email. “The audiences love them,” he said.
The 2016 edition included an even bigger slate of Indian films. The Tamil film, Kanavu Variyam; Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Ram Leela follow-up, Bajirao Mastani; Akshay Kumar’s Gabbar is Back; SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali: The Beginning and Kangana Ranaut’s ‘Many Weds Manu Return’ (Google translate flummoxed, perhaps) were screened in the Informative Screening category. However, the obscure film, Ramsingh Charlie was the only Indian addition to the competition lineup.
The festival would like to screen more Bollywood and ‘Malayalum’ films, Bonner said, “however it has been very difficult in finding a sales company interesting in supporting a small cinema (sic).”
It’s still unclear how these films are sourced.
Bonner identified himself as one of the co-directors of a film called Comrade Kim goes Flying, a film the Toronto International Film Festival declares the first “Western-financed fiction feature made entirely in North Korea”.
According to a New York Times article published in 2012, Bonner “steered (the North Korean writers) toward comedy and away from the more predictable propaganda line of triumph through hard work.”
For the longest time, though, the Pyongyang International Film Festival showed mostly propaganda films. The few international titles that passed the thorough screening process - films like Gurinder Chadha’s Bend it Like Beckham - were heavily censored to suit the insular North Korean tastes.
Like most outside media, films too are restricted in North Korea. And foreign films about North Korea are even less welcome. It was rumoured that the portrayal of their leader, Kim Jong-un, in the 2014 Seth Rogen comedy, The Interview (he died in a scene scored to a Katy Perry song), prompted hackers to steal thousands of confidential documents from Sony Pictures, the film’s home studio. Threats of a terror attack followed, which resulted in the film’s theatrical release being pulled. It was finally released via home video and on streaming.
There is no official data available on how many indigenous films are produced in North Korea. Some figures peg it to be around 80 films per year, but this was refuted by a BBC report, which noted that the 2000 edition of the festival screened just one home-made feature and one documentary.
Related Topics
Trending News & Articles
Troubles mount for Pakistani actress Saba Qamar as a sensational new video from her controversial photo shoot has made its way on the Twitter. A few days ago, Saba ...
Recently posted . 10K views . 6 min read
Actress Hansika Motwani is the latest to fall prey to the evil side of the internet as her private swimsuit pictures got leaked online without her consent. The Sout...
Recently posted . 7K views . 2 min read
It’s a lazy spring afternoon. You are at home and relaxing lousily on your couch but overall you are getting bored and searching means to entertain yourself. ...
Recently posted . 6K views . 4 min read
When Karan Johar showed Jaya Bachchan using a stool to help her husband, Amitabh Bachchan, wear his tie in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham , it was a classic case of a tal...
Recently posted . 5K views . 1 min read
More in Entertainment & Fun
Shera and Tiger Security Services were specially roped in to handle the security for Tyson, who was in Mumbai on his maiden visit to launch mixed martial arts lea...
Recently posted. 979 views . 1 min read
Over the weekend, Soundarya tweeted a photo, featuring herself and her son Ved from a swimming session in a pool.
Recently posted. 842 views . 0 min read
Like every one of us, xXx: Return of Xander Cage director DJ Caruso also realises that searching for the movie or its clips online might be a bit risky, as...
Recently posted. 1K views . 8 min read
Recently posted . 1K views
Recently posted . 1K views
Recently posted . 1K views
Recently posted . 2K views
Recently posted . 3K views . 41 min read
Recently posted . 2K views . 39 min read
As the wedding season approaches, Subhash Lane near Thane railway station is typically bustling with shoppers.
Matters, however, are surprisingl...
Recently posted. 703 views . 21 min read
Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas have consistently been spotted together, but hadn't talked publicly about their relationship.
Recently posted. 923 views . 1 min read