Creativity has no boundaries. From time immemorial, the creators have been shaping this world. The great creative ideas, which shaped us as “modern human beings”, across all civilisations, in our long evolutionary journey from the Dark Ages, pushed a creative vision of earlier generations to improve their future, i.e. “Our Present Life”. As we, Baby Boomers to Gen Z, enjoy the benefits of progress in the 21st century, it is the creativity of our ancestors that made human life better for us in modern times. Thus, identifying the creators, giving them mentorship, sharing state-of-the-art know-how and best global practices, and providing access to the market for their creative work becomes crucial for policymakers in all generations.
In the modern internet era, by unleashing the creative potential of the world, India is precisely riding on WAVES of creativity. New Delhi aims to unite the world politically as a “Creative Soft Power”, promoting global harmony among a comity of nations. At the same time, at the working level of the media & entertainment industry, our policymakers are “Connecting the Creators” through WAVES 2025 by “Connecting Countries”. Be it the Indian brand of Yoga & Ayurveda from ancient times or the “entertaining” music of Bollywood in the last 100 years since talkies came into being, our creators have been shaping the world by democratising knowledge for creators of all generations. Thus WAVES, the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit, happening in Mumbai from 1st to 4th May, is a great opportunity for creators from across the globe to showcase their talent & truly be a part of the creative journey, earning name & fame for their creativity. Be it films, music, games, comics or some tech innovation in making education & healthcare more affordable, WAVES offers the creators a “Wholesome Opportunity” to remain ahead by developing tools that have the potential to shape the media and entertainment industry.
Efforts of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in identifying a creative talent pool are bringing results. More than “750 Shortlisted Creators” from across the world, filtered through 32 ‘Create in India, Create for the World’ challenges, will now showcase their work in Mumbai’s Jio Convention Centre. They are not only creators but inventors in the true sense. Some of the creators identified by the Government of India through a holistic approach of jury-based selection by industry experts & market professionals have already come up with great work that has scalable potential to change our lives by innovative means. Next time when you go to Cellular Jail in Port Blair as a tourist, you will have a better experience interacting with freedom fighter Veer Savarkar — simply because a creative firm used its Xtended Reality (XR) talent to make it possible. Under the aegis of the WAVES challenge, creators want to use the platform of WAVES to reach out to other historical sites in India or abroad, displaying their XR & Virtual Reality (VR) skills while narrating historical stories & folklore. Another tech-driven creative work, PosePerfect, is an effort to correct the yogic postures of fitness freaks by using XR as an Artificially Intelligent solution to imperfect poses of Yoga practitioners — a real-time problem. With the right support and mentorship, youth creativity can position India as a global content hub, enhance governance, and create jobs — realising Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Create in India, Create for the World’ through WAVES.
Coders from the remote corners of India are also benefiting from CIC challenges under WAVES. A young 16-year-old boy from Kashmir has started giving shape to his dreams of making his startup, thanks to the acknowledgement of his coding skills on the platform of WAVES. It is not just one story of a youth from Kashmir, but many youths across the world are trying their fate by showcasing their skills on the talent hunt forum, the CreatoSphere of WAVES.
As the confluence of technology with artistic creation is at its peak, the media & entertainment sector — through its soft power — has immense potential to lead the way, making India a top global content creation hub in the times to come. The WAVES is all set to project before the world how creators sharpened human understanding in all generations. It is therefore imperative to judge the creative talent in all the formats of creativity — be it reel-making or “Tell the Truth” hackathon. Top comic makers & their creative comic animations are already making creative WAVES in the media. In the world of classical music, Dilli Gharana’s talent hunt show on Doordarshan Wah Ustad is also reviving the traditional formats of creativity. Further, if our modern Gen Z creators play piano or any other musical instrument on their mobile app, the Electronic Dance and Music & DJing Competition (EDM) is also tapping the new era of talented creators. India has already reached out to about 160 nations across the world to join and see for themselves global creative talent identified by top creators of the world during the Grand Finale of Season 1 of Create in India Challenges next month.
The first WAVES Summit is a milestone event for the media & entertainment sector. This historic summit will bring together global leaders, media professionals, artists, policymakers and industry stakeholders.
(The writer is Additional Director General, Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Views are personal)
