Bahrain Cinema Icon Savani Passes Away

TDT| Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Pioneering film distributor Suryakant Savani, who helped turn Bahrain into a launchpad for Indian cinema across the world, has passed away in Pune. He was a former long term resident of Bahrain and a familiar name to generations of cinema goers across the Gulf and beyond.

Born in Kenya to an entrepreneurial family, Mr Savani entered the movie business after his family realised that Indian films were virtually unknown outside the subcontinent. In the late nineteen sixties they set up a distribution office in Bahrain with the ambition of taking Bollywood to audiences worldwide.

Mr Savani later moved to the Kingdom, building Bahrain into the base for a far reaching distribution network that worked with cinema owners across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and even South America. At its height the family operation handled more than a thousand titles and hired managers in nine countries to keep up with demand for Indian films.

In Bahrain his company worked closely with Bahrain Cinema Company, supplying Indian movies that drew packed houses and helped shape the cultural life of the Indian community and many Arab residents who grew up watching Hindi blockbusters on local screens.

Friends and former colleagues remember him as a soft spoken deal maker with an instinct for stories that would travel across borders. His passing closes a remarkable chapter in Bahrain’s film history yet his legacy lives on every time a Bollywood song plays in a Gulf cinema hall.