I&B secretary assures facilitation for film industry's growth

MUMBAI: Ministry of Information & Broadcasting secretary Raghu Menon assured film industry stakeholders that the Government of India would make all efforts to facilitate healthy and orderly growth of the film industry and the media industry as a whole.

Menon said that issues discussed at the daylong conference focusing on the subject Strengthening Domestic Film Business & IPR are bound to have long term bearings for the future. He said that the media sector has had a robust growth of 13 per cent increase annually and a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of 13 per cent but "big is good but not enough," he added.

He said the film industry needs a candid introspection on problems faced to arrive at appropriate remedial measures and course correction. Menon advised that it is no use if the sector becomes unprofessional and commercially unviable. "A reality check is important and the producers need to take a hard look at their talent and project cost. Piracy is the biggest threat to the entertainment industry and the Government on its part is taking steps for effective enforcement of the laws," he said.

He informed that the piracy issue would also be discussed in detail at the forthcoming conference of the State Information Ministers’ scheduled in Delhi on 5 December, 2009. "While the Government will take punitive action, the entertainment industry itself should take preventive action to create awareness among the people at large to boycott pirated products," he added.

Menon also complimented the stakeholders noting that India has emerged as a favorite service destination for animation, gaming and visual effects. "While the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has the resources to set up the Centre for Excellence in animation, gaming and visual effects, the stakeholders should feel free to contribute with the necessary expertise to set up the Centre," he said.

Delivering the special address The Film & Television Producers Guild of India president Manmohan Shetty, pointed out that media entrepreneurs need to re-look the multiplex ticket-costing, talent-signing amounts to ensure control in prices for affordable expenditure on cinema-viewing for an average Indian family.

Kaleidoscope Entertainment and Member of Jury IFFI Goa MD Bobby Bedi in his address also highlighted the need to control the Frankenstein growth of multiplexes and big production houses to ensure that film making is not rendered economically unviable and in turn encouraging the average viewer to watch pirated CDs of films instead.