Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur addressed the India Forum at the famous Palais des Festivals in Cannes.
He represented a 6000 year old culture and 1.3 billion people the Minister delivered his keynote address in front of audience comprising foreign and Indian filmmakers, journalists and delegates.
He said the Indian content has been ruling the hearts and minds of the global audience.
The “Gold rush amongst broadcasters as well as telcos to set up own OTT for India”, he said
The minister assured of taking all measures to speed up Co- Production Collaborations from around the world.
He hoped in next five years Bharat will be amongst the leading quality content producing nations across the globe.
The session moderated by Vani Tripathi had on the panel GoI Information & Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra, , writer and poet Central Board of Film Certification chairman Prasoon Joshi, Indian actor, writer, director and producer R Madhavan, Indian filmmaker, actor, television presenter and entrepreneur and Film and Television Institute of India, Chairman Shekhar Kapur, Hollywood Reporter, editor Scott Roxborough and producer Philip Avril.
This year marks the 75th year celebration of both Cannes Film Festival and of establishment of India-France diplomatic relations.
Speaking on the significance of Cannes, the Minister said over the years, ‘Festival de Cannes’ has played a significant role in strengthening Indo-French relations.
The Minister noted the historic highs of Indian cinema and said Indian content has been ruling the hearts and minds of the global audience and the stepping stone was laid by bestowing the Palme d’Or to the prolific Indian filmmaker Chetan Anand’s film Neecha Nagar in 1946 and a decade later in 1956, Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali won the Palme d’Or.
Today the recognition of our cinematic excellence the world over is set to manifest the country into the ‘content hub of the world’, the Minister added.
Speaking on India’s current presence in Cannes the Minister said “India intends to give you – the global audience, a flavour of the country’s cinematic excellence, technological prowess, rich culture and illustrious heritage of storytelling”.
“India’s red carpet presence captured the diversity of our cinematic excellence not only in terms of representation of actors and film makers from various languages and regions, but also OTT platforms, with a strong presence of music composers and a folk artist who have enthralled audiences both young and old”, the Minister further added.
