The crowd in Chennai has always been packed with people who have a thirst for good films across languages, and not just Tamil films. All kinds of films do enjoy a good following down here, with many famous directors receiving cheers for their name cards, and not just the stars. An important aspect of the films reaching out to larger audiences has been the presence of subtitles, but in hindsight, not all the other-language films releasing here come with subtitles uniformly. Fans who show interest in the film used to reach out to theatre wings on Twitter or Facebook, looking for a positive update on the same. But replies were few and far in between, and not trustworthy enough.
And this is the void which Subtitles Help looked to fill. Vinoth CJ, who brought up the handle on Twitter, wanted to make it a service forum which confirms the presence of subtitles for the films releasing for the respective week, after getting the word from the concerned officials of the screening centers.
Vinoth (who works in the marketing department for Sathya Jothi Films, a reputed production house) makes best use of his contacts in getting the information beforehand, and only tweets it officially after making a confirmation. On some days, even his friends who watch films at the different screens help him gather the information regarding the presence and the quality of the subtitles. Vinoth feels that the audience in today’s world should not come across the same problem of information ambiguity with respect to subtitles, that he faced few years ago.
Over the past few months, Subtitles Help has been useful in updating the correct word on the presence of subtitles across theatre wings in Chennai (majorly), Coimbatore and Puducherry. Over time, Vinoth looks to transform the handle into a public forum where people help each other in the search for the translated lines at the bottom of the screen.
After all, cinema is for one and all, and language shouldn’t be a barrier here.