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Zee Entertainment Enterprise is looking to make content accessible to the visually and hearing impaired. To start with the company said it will telecast the Amir Khan-starrer Dangal with audio description.
Zee has the telecast rights for Dangal . Zee’s Hindi movie channel - Zee Cinema SD - will premiere the blockbuster. The film, which moved audiences in India and across the world, will also have subtitles for hearing impaired audiences.
“Zee Cinema will be the first movie channel in India to premiere a film curated for the visually impaired. It will also have subtitles for hearing-impaired audiences. We hope that the premiere of Dangal reaches out to the maximum number of such audiences in India. We are also exploring adding audio descriptions in other Indian regional languages in the future,” Punit Misra, CEO - Domestic Broadcast Business, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL), said.
According to the World Health Organisation 2010 Report, India accounts for eight million blind persons, 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 is to ensure that the large population of the visually and hearing impaired have access to what is truly world class, inspiring entertainment.
Zee Cinema has also associated with the biggest associations for the visually impaired in the country, 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 the Patiala School of Blind & Deaf in Punjab.
Reaching out to over 109 million viewers each week, Zee Cinema’s premiere of Dangal with Audio Description and subtitles will surely change the accessibility landscape in India. The Audio Description feed will be available on Dish TV, Videocon, Tata Sky and Airtel. The subtitles will be in English language on HD and in Hindi language on SD.
Essentially, Audio Description conveys the most important visual aspects of the story by providing commentary during natural pauses and moments of quiet. It is voice-over narration that explains what’s 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.
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