Professor turns subtitles into literacy tool for millions

A long time ago, a student named Brij Kothari was watching Spanish movies in America and wished he could read the words he was hearing.

He thought that reading and listening together could help people learn to read better.

He brought this idea, called Same Language Subtitling, to India, where shows get subtitles in the same language people speak.

First, television companies said no because they thought subtitles would distract viewers.

So Kothari did experiments, and children who watched subtitled shows learned to read faster.

In 2002, his idea won a big prize of 250,000 dollars, which gave it lots of attention.

Now, more than 110 television programmes in India show these subtitles, reaching about 160 million people.

The government made a rule that many shows should have same-language subtitles, and now movies must include them too.

This way, millions of people can practise reading while simply watching their favourite shows.