Govt policies to help M&E ecosystem to generate $53 bn annually by 2025

Carrying the tales of Bharat, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, yesterday (May 19, 2022) addressed the India Forum at the famous Palais des Festivals in Cannes. Representing a 6,000-year old culture and 1.3 billion people, the Minister delivered his keynote address in front of audience comprising foreign and Indian filmmakers, journalists and delegates.

The session moderated by Vani Tripathi had on the panel Apurva Chandra, Secretary, Information & Broadcasting, Government of India; Prasoon Joshi, Writer, Poet, and Chairman, Central Board of Film Certification; R Madhavan, actor, writer, director, and producer; Shekhar Kapur, filmmaker, actor, television presenter and entrepreneur and Chairman, Film and Television Institute of India; Scott Roxborough, Editor, Hollywood Reporter; and Philip Avril, Producer, among others.

This year marks the 75th year celebration of both Cannes Film Festival and of establishment of India-France diplomatic relations. Speaking on the importance of Cannes, Thakur said that over the years, ‘Festival de Cannes’ has played a significant role in strengthening Indo-French relations. The Minister noted historic highs of Indian cinema and said that Indian content has been ruling the hearts and minds of the global audience and the steppingstone was laid by bestowing the Palme d’Or to the prolific Indian filmmaker Chetan Anand’s film ‘Neecha Nagar’ in 1946 and a decade later in 1956, Satyajit Ray’s ‘Pather Panchali’ won the Palme d’Or. Today, the recognition of our cinematic excellence the world over is set to manifest the country into the ‘content hub of the world’, the Minister added.

Speaking on India’s current presence in Cannes, the Minister said, “India’s red-carpet presence captured the diversity of our cinematic excellence not only in terms of representation of actors and film makers from various languages and regions, but also OTT platforms, with a strong presence of music composers and a folk artist who have enthralled audiences both young and old.”

The Minister informed the audience about the presence of Indian start-ups in Cannes and said that the start-ups from media and entertainment sector will showcase their technological prowess and pitch to the best from the world of AVGC along with a strong delegation of animation professionals from the sector.

Thakur informed the audience of the various measures by both Union and State governments and said that while the Center has envisioned major initiatives over the last 8 years to boost co-productions, film shoots and film facilitations in India, States like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have formulated their own film facilitation policies and provided co-production opportunities. He stated that these efforts aimed at boosting India’s media and entertainment ecosystem, which is expected to generate $53 billion annually by 2025.

In one such measure, “Government of India officially designated audiovisual services as one of 12 ‘champion service sectors’ and recently set up an AVGC task force comprising of industry leaders to prepare a policy roadmap for India to take a quantum leap in this sector and position us as the preferred ‘postproduction hub of the world’.”

Thakur further said that on the one hand artificial intelligence, virtual reality, immersive technologies such as the Metaverse, present immense possibilities to India’s IT skilled workforce, the OTT market in India is predicted to grow at 21% annually to nearly $2 billion by 2024, on the other.

The Minister promised that the Government will take all necessary measures to transform India into a Global Content Subcontinent and use the skills of our youth to make India the preferred Postproduction Hub for the AVGC sector and to that end Government will speed up co-production collaborations from around the world and also offer the best locations in India for Film Shoots. These steps, Thakur envisioned, will in the next 5 years, catapult Bharat into the league of leading quality content producing nations across the globe.

The minister concluded his statement by extending a warm invitation to shoot in India, bask in its hospitality and relish its breath-taking landscape.

Shekhar Kapur spoke about the effect of access to cheap broadband and mobile devices having a disruptive effect on movie industry and said that India is about to become the world’s biggest ‘influencer economy’ and that cinema will soon be redefined by the young film makers.

Prasoon Joshi added here, “India is a pool of restless dreams, dreams that are restless to make it big, of looking forward.”

Apurva Chandra cited movies like ‘Lunchbox’, ‘Mr and Mrs Iyer’ and ‘Rocketry’ that are typically Indian in their story, but have resonated with audience across the world. He further reiterated the incentives announced by the Government of India at Cannes for film makers from across the world.

R Madhavan commented on how India has so much to tell the world in the field of science and technology and the cinema world must explore this idea. From Aryabhatta to Sundar Pichai, India has extraordinary stories which are aspirations of youngsters around the world.