Will ever this progressive government think of saving this sinking industry called Bollywood?

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi included the Indian film industry as part of his ambitious Make in India (MII) initiative with objectives like correcting the Balance of Payment (BOP) through import substitution, encouraging exports of goods and services, making India self-reliant in various sectors of economy, creating a talent pool, and generating employment for our growing young populace.

 The Make in India approach paper on the media & entertainment industry, films included, borrowed heavily from FICCI Frames Annual Report, which is based on dubious data about the Indian film industry, and published with the sole purpose of being using as a lobbying tool. The babus in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) seemingly did a cut-paste job and sent the information to the PMO to develop its MII approach paper.  They obviously know very little about the film industry though MIB is its nodal ministry. NFDC, a PSU, that’s supposed to be funding and marketing Indian films all over the world, does not have any database about the global film industry in spite of decades of its existence.

 Making the Indian film industry part of the MII initiative should have got the ball rolling and MIB should have begun the process of defining and developing a solid vision for the film industry. Nothing like that happened. MIB is still in the dark. It does not even have the mechanism or wherewithal to find out the daily domestic or foreign box office collection of Indian films. I don’t think it monitors the global developments in the field on a regular basis to create a reliable database to be able to develop solid strategies to meet global challenges.

 The Prime Minister should ask his Minister of Information & Broadcasting a few pointed questions like what’s the size of the global film industry and if he knows where does India stand vis-à-vis Hollywood, Chinese, Korean, and European film industries in terms of its reach, potential, and business. That’s the most basic question to be asked in the context of MII initiative. If you don’t know where do you stand vis-à-vis your global competitors, you cannot evolve your strategic business objectives and goals. If you don’t know your destination, you go nowhere.

 That’s the reality of the Indian film industry today. It’s in the ‘nowhere’ land. The industry itself is incapable of developing a national strategy since it leads a hand-to-mouth-existence. It has never imagined itself to be a global player. Our leading producers, directors, and stars cannot think beyond domestic and Indian Diaspora markets. A few producers dared to expand their market footprints without realizing the cut-throat nature of the global film industry. They either burnt their hands badly or had limited success.

 While MIB is alert to controversies around CBFC and FTII, it is completely ignorant about the ground realities of the film industry. It does not even care to get informed. The ministers cannot look beyond the glamour and glitz of Bollywood. The indifference of the Government of India is so apparent. While all other industries deal with important ministries of commerce, industry, and finance, the Indian film industry reports to MIB.

How can the Prime Minister expect MIB to have an economic/industrial vision? It’s not designed to do that. It’s supposed to communicate GOI’s vision and plans. It cannot be expected to play the role of nurturing and promoting an industry. It can at most organize awards functions and festivals, and run a film school and fund a few art-house films and documentaries through its PSUs and ancillary organizations.

So, if Prime Minister Narendra Modi is really serious about the Indian film industry making significant contributions to his MII initiative, he must delink it from MIB. He should also create a task force under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry to do a comparative study of the global film industry to find out where exactly the Indian film industry stands today and what is needed to be done to make it locally viable and globally competitive.