The Government is set to showcase India as an alluring filming destination to facilitate the growth of film industry and promote the diversity of the country through the visual medium. The topic came for discussion at a consultative committee meet of Information & Broadcasting Ministry on Friday. The meet, chaired by I&B Minister Arun Jaitley, stressed that projection of India as a filming destination would boost the inflow of tourists.
Jaitley said that in order to promote India as a “soft power”, all efforts need to be taken to give the concept a strong “brand push”. The branding could be undertaken by creating and promoting a capsule that incorporated the key features of the country’s professional ability including skills, human resources, diverse locales, filming support from institutional structures and core strengths of the country’s film industry. The meeting decided that this capsule would be showcased at all major international film festivals to promote the filming destination concept.
In the process, Jaitley emphasised that there was a need to simplify procedures and rules in order to promote the idea in letter and spirit. later, a presentation was made providing an overview of the steps and initiatives undertaken so far to promote India as a soft power. It focused on promotion of the same through film festivals, film bazaars, co-production units, other strategies to promote the concept.
The members contended that apart from skill development which forms a critical area that requires to be developed further by the Government and together with the film industry, rules and guidelines for promoting the destination concept also calls for a relook. laws and rules needed to be in sync with contemporary technological tools. It was also mentioned that the concept required collaboration and partnership between the ministry, the state governments and other stakeholders. They argued that the concept of stake holders have to be addressed for the success of the concept in totality.
Prominent among those who attended the meet include Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Bangla Film actor-turned-MP Tapas Paul, K Keshava Rao, MP Achutan amongst others.