MUMBAI: Corpus Inc, a technology leader, in the media and entertainment industry, recently arranged for a panel discussion alongwith Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods International for students from New York University, and top executives from firms in USA.
The event arranged at Whistling Woods and Renaissance Powai was attended by several film industry personalities. Prominent among them were Adlabs Films managing director Manmohan Shetty, Ravi Chopra of BR Films, Muktaa Arts’ Subhash Ghai, Whistling Woods’ Meghna Ghai Puri, director Karan Razdaan and Deepak Shivdasani and actor Jackie Shroff.
Corpus had arranged for a panel discussion jointly with India’s foremost institute on filmmaking – Whistling Woods International. The panel discussion seeked to throw light on subjects such as:
Finances of the industry; where do funds come from?
Why hasn’t Bollywood become like a global industry like Hollywood?
Professional management and global international techniques in Bollywood
Internationalization of Bollywood and cross overs.
Ghai shared his understanding with this distinguished gathering. “I welcome the role Corpus is playing in bringing this distinguished panel to Bollywood. I am aware of some of the work Corpus is doing with Whistling Wood on the digitization front,” he said.
Speakers on the panel included Manmohan Shetty, Ravi Chopra, Mukta Arts Limited CEO Ravi Gupta, Whistling Woods International deal and Hollywood producer Kurt Inderbitzin and Mukta Arts Ltd vice president finance and strategy Rahul Puri, gave a presentation on the Indian entertainment industry.
Speaking on the occasion Corpus executive vice president Mike Agar said, “This session aims to address the growing interest in Bollywood and to provide an insight into this industry for the ever-increasing Indian Diaspora around the world. The US alone is estimated to have more than 3.5 million residents of Indian descent, which has significantly impacted the movie business and the whole economics. There are movies which are made especially keeping this scenario in mind. This initiative by Corpus is the first of its kind and we look forward to creating such platforms in future.”
Ghai threw light on why Indian cinemas are unable to sell in US market. Whereas Chopra emphasised the fact that Indian movies are meant for the Asian Diaspora and it is never meant to cater to the US market only. “If films have to be made for the US, they need to be made in a way that they understand. In that sense, there should be no comparison between Bollywood and Hollywood because each caters to its targeted audience and segment,” Chopra said.
Shetty stressed on movies like Rang De Basanti, Krissh and Fanaa gathering exemplary money from overseas. He further added that budgets of western and Indian movies have vast difference and also are meant for different sensibilities. “We need to make movies of that kind of budget without losing the intrinsic flavour of Indian movies, which are equally appealing to western audiences,” Shetty said.
