MUMBAI: Innovation in presentation and telecast seems to be continuing phenomenon. Versatile actor Aamir Khan’s ‘Dangal’, which is having its television premiere on Zee Cinema on 15 August, will be a special Independence Day treat for the visually impaired and hearing viewers: it will have subtitles for those who cannot hear and audio description for those who cannot see.
Marking its silver jubilee this year, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd is launching a “Zee For All” initiative with strong content and technology support. ZEE covers 172 countries and it has reached over one billion viewers, driven by its philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” - The world is one family. The film is being telecast on 15 August at 12 Noon.
The telecast of ‘Dangal’ was long awaited for its emotional resonance, technical artistry and compelling performances. Director Nitesh Tiwari’s sports biographical drama features Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Suhani Bhatnagar, ZairaWasim, Aparshakti Khurrana, Ritvik Sahore and Girish Kulkarni. It is based on the true story of a former Indian national wrestling champ who battles the existing social order to train his two young daughters to be world-class contenders in the otherwise male dominated sport of wrestling.
According to World Health Organisation 2010 Report, India accounts for eight million blind, 54.5 million people with low vision and 62.6 million people with visual impairment – which makes India home to the second largest visually challenged population globally.
The objective of ‘ZEE For All’ is to ensure that the large population of the Visually and Hearing Impaired receives access to what is truly world class, inspiring entertainment. Zee Cinema has also associated with the National Association For The Blind (Mumbai, Indore, Chandigarh and Lucknow), National Association For The Blind - The Workshop for the Blind in Mumbai, Institution For The Blind in Delhi and Patiala School of Blind & Deaf in Punjab. Zee Cinema will host preview screenings with audio Description and subtitles to sensitize the visually Impaired with the technology of audio description to bring entertainment within their reach,
The audio description feed will be available on Dish TV, Videocon, Tata Sky and Airtel. The subtitles will be in English on HD and in Hindi on SD.
Zee Entertainment (ZEEL) CEO - domestic broadcast business Punit Misra said, “On India’s 70th Independence Day, ZEE redefines the ‘freedom to see’ and offers all our audiences a superlative movie watching experience in the comfort of their homes. We hope that the premiere of Dangal reaches out to the maximum number of visually and hearing Impaired audiences in India. We are also exploring adding audio description in other Indian regional languages in the future. Just like Aamir gave us the audio description assets for Dangal, we will reach out to all our content partners requesting for the same as we expand the initiative. ‘ZEEForAll’ will surely be a milestone in the history of TV broadcasting in India.”
Zee Hindi Movie Cluster Business Head Ruchir Tiwari said, “It is wonderful to associate with Aamir Khan on this pioneering initiative with Dangal - a film that is inspiring, emotional and entertaining. I am personally very happy that Dangal has inspired our team to do what is needed to make the movie accessible to all our viewers.”
Aamir Khan said, “It is with great anticipation that I look forward to the television premiere of Dangal on 15th August on Zee Cinema SD. I instantly agreed to the idea of premiering Dangal with audio description for the visually impaired and it is a matter of absolute pride to associate with ZEE on this Independence Day premiere of my film.”
Essentially, audio description conveys the most important visual aspects of the story by providing commentary during natural pauses and moments of quiet. It is a voice-over narration that explains what is happening on the screen, including physical actions made by various characters and other important visual elements. The narration is inserted between lines of dialogue. This audio description is recorded and made available as a separate audio track that can be selected by the audience on their remote.
