Yet, I believe nearly 95 % of all Urban people in India rarely follow the American or the British Accent. Indians pronounce English very differently from the rest of the world. Sanskrit is the mother of all Indian languages, though it is never spoken in any part of the country today. There is no such thing as an accent in Sanskrit. To put it like this – ‘cut’ and ‘cupid’ are pronounced differently in English. There is no scope however in Sanskrit for such different interpretations. Besides, the meaning of a spoken word is independent of how it is pronounced for most Indian languages.

Given this tradition, though English is so widely spoken in India, the majority in our country rarely follow the American or the British Accent. This aspect tells well in the revenues American films generate in this country from Theatrical exhibition.

For last year, all of India generated not more than 10 million US Dollars for all American films combined ! Only 30 % of films released by the MPAA are released in INDIA and of these, roughly 5 films in a 100 are dubbed in HINDI, TAMIL and TELUGU languages – of course, dubbing is done only for the illiterate and rural mass. So, if the dubbed movies are translated back into English, the regained English version would look like a Complete idiot’s version of the original movie.

I have all along stressed that American companies here should get into same language subtitling – that is, subtitle American films in English itself ! I have done enough research at my theatre and although only 2 % of the 700000 patrons at my theatre last year came to watch American movies, I could assume that, with all the research data that I have gathered here, nearly 70 % of the 700000 persons prefer to watch an American film only if it is subtitled in ENGLISH !

I have consistently put this point across to distributors here. Unfortunately, they are too dull and slow to appreciate this.

The cost of subtitling an English movie in English itself, in INDIA, would average USD 2 per minute per print if the method is laser-etching. So, while I did try to somehow get a single print of SIGNS subtitled for play at my theatre and which movie is releasing here on 30-Aug, I have had no results despite doing this much –

1) Speak to the local agent in Bangalore
2) Speak to the regional agent at Chennai
3) Speak to the national agent at Mumbai
4) Speak to the Territory agent at Hongkong
5) Speak to the people at Disney at California
6) Speak to Mr.Shyamalan’s Secretary at BLINDING EDGE PICTURES – The number for Blinding Edge Pictures is not listed anywhere ; First I had to search for Shyamalan’s residential number at Pennsylvania and after both the listed numbers were prompted as having been disconnected, I had to then call up KENNEDY MARSHALL PICTURES in California and get the number for BLINDING EDGE PICTURES from them.

Nothing has worked yet and I am sure there is nothing more that could be done. Still, I do not want to lose and I came across the DTS-CSS subtitling system.

I just learnt from the agent for DTS here in INDIA that he has sold not one unit of DTS-CSS yet. But thankfully he is quite aware of the product. I then searched the internet to find some very useful material about the DTS-CSS.

Despite its high price, I am sure to buy it if it does what I have in mind. As of today,

1) are there sufficient number of American films worked on the DTS-CSS system, that is, American films coming out with English language subtitles ?
2) unlike other countries, the requirement for DTS-CSS at my theatre is not for the purpose of meeting the demands of the hearing impaired people – as such, do I have the option, under the DTS-CSS itself, of restricting the subtitles only to actual dialogues and not to sound description ?
3) That my screen is 52 feet in width, will the DTS-CSS projector reach out to full or most of my screen width ?
4) That DTS-CSS is somewhat more popular in UK than in the US, will some UK projectionists help me out here ?
5) That the media for the DTS-CSS is also a CD-ROM, by what name is this new disc called ?

SIGNS
XXX
Mr.DEEDS
AUSTIN POWERS
ROAD TO PERDITION
WINDTALKERS
BLUE CRUSH
BOURNE IDENTITY

Many times, movies release in UK afer they are released in INDIA. SO, could it be that DTS-CSS disks are ready only by a movie hits screens in the UK ? I hope the DTS-CSS disks are ready simultaneous with a movie's US release or is readied within a week or two after its US release.

Also, is the task of obtaining the DTS-CSS disk just as routine as for the regular audio disk or is it a bit different (for the distributor, of course).

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If configured for closed captioning, an LED display is hung on the rear wall of the auditourium. A patron wishing to use the system gets a reflective plastic thing that is simply a piece of (what looks like) a rectangular shaped, gray-smoked colored plexiglas mounted on a flexible goose-neck. There is a fitting to fix it into the cup holder on the seat. The patron adjusts the plexiglas such he can see the reflection of the LED display. The characters on the display are printed reversed, so they will be correct when read. Depending on the size and shape of your auditourium, you may need more than one LED display to cover. Seats in the last rows may be too far on an angle to work.

If configured for opened captioning, an video projector is connected to the DTS-CSS and projects the subtitle info anywhere you want, but usually under the screen.

If fully implemented, the system also contains a descriptive narrative track for blind people to "listen" to the action. This requires a little planning to implement, because to use it a headphone system that does not interfere with the existing infrared hearing impaired is needed. We dug out our old Phonic Ear FM systems we stopped using years ago.

A standard DTS reader, mounted to your projector is required. You do not need a regular DTS (audio processor) as the DTS-CSS is a stand alone system. If you do use both, a simple "Y" cable splits the reader signal to the DTS-CSS and DTS audio processor.

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If you send me an email, I can connect you with our service center in India and to the person in charge of sales in that region. They might have information on what will be done in India.