Mr Samuel Njoroge Njenga, popularly known as DJ Bishop, had such a passion for movies that it drove him to set up a unique business: movie commentary.

But now, 20 years later, the advancements in telecommunications are threatening to shut down his business.

Born 40 years ago in Nairobi’s Dagoretti, Mr Njoroge did not have the privilege of completing his primary school education — he dropped out in Standard Five. But his interest in movies remained intact.

Audio track

“From an early age, I enjoyed watching movies. Back then, we had Fairview Cinema from Limuru, which projected movies in schools and in towns,” said Njoroge.

In 1993, he got an opportunity to be a part of Fairview Cinema’s crew, a dream come true. He was hired to translate English movies into local languages. He would record an audio track that would play at the same time as the movie.

Having been brought up in Dagoretti, he knew most of the young people around had dropped out of school to work in the abattoirs. The same people enjoyed watching movies, evidenced by the crowds that gathered around TV screens.

However, there was a language barrier as most of them did not understand English, the language used in most movies. As a result, their interest would wane after a few minutes.

“People wanted movies that were not difficult to comprehend,” said Njoroge. “When a movie was commentated, the viewers would have the patience to watch the movie to the end.”

From this, he saw a business opportunity. He quickly set up a base and began to commentate live as a movie played. He found people all too willing to pay to listen to him narrate the action on the screen in a language they understood. Twenty years later, he still gets customers who pay Sh20 per head to listen to him live.

The DJ said his popularity grew because of his ability to “localise” the plot by giving the actors indigenous names, such as Kegotho, Mwangi or Onyango. And as business increased, a new demand came up.

“Some of the customers who could not afford to come for the daily live commentaries suggested that I record the movies and then sell or rent them out to them,” said Njoroge.

The challenges

He did so, and with the proceeds he was getting from this new income stream, he was able to set up two cinema halls in Dagoretti and one in Rongai. He still rents out movies with his commentaries to clients in Kayole, Kamwangi, Makongeni (both in Thika and Nairobi), Dandora, Kayaba and Mukuru slums.

However, at the moment, business is not that rosy, and he is facing a variety of challenges.

“The market has been saturated with many commentators. It is not like those days when people would have to rely on me.”

Moreover, he said that since movies started being sold on DVDs and their prices dropped to an average of Sh50, most people have opted to buy the discs and watch them from the comfort of their homes.

He still operates video cassettes, which explains the huge stockpile of videotapes he has in one of his cinema halls in Dagoretti.

Another of his key challenges is that his customers keep being targeted by the police.

“There is a notion among law enforcement officers that moviegoers of the kind that frequent my business are idle, and they believe that thugs hide inside the cinema halls,” he said.

Njoroge added that the abattoirs in his home area do not have as many workers as there used to be. More young people are pursuing an education, which has become easier and cheaper to access, and do not need his services as a commentator to understand English movies.

He said that once his current crop of customers diminishes, he will be out of business, especially since the cost of technology has gone down.

“Most people would rather buy a DVD player, which costs around Sh3,500, than pay to watch movies in my cinema halls.”

The father of two has come to the painful realisation that in as much as technology has changed millions of lives for the better, for others, it has left a trail of broken dreams in its wake.

bizbeat@standardmedia.co.ke