I&B wants Amazon to promote Indian content (IANS Column: B-Town)

By Vinod Mirani

The Government of India now wants to be a part of the OTT revolution. That is, the I&B Ministry, on behalf of the Government of India, has joined hands with Amazon Prime to promote the cultural and creative talent and content at its command.

India has used various bodies set up by the government over a period of time to promote Indian films and culture in different ways -- films through the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and culture through programmes made by or for the Films Division (FD).

In most cases, whatever content such bodies produced or promoted remained within India. It was all half-hearted, not well thought-out. Most of it ended up being promotional content for the ruling regime. And these institutions were not set up to monetise their content.

Besides the FD and NFDC, the regimes also promoted, and continue to do so now, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The idea is to both expose foreign delegates to Indian films and the Indian audience to films from around the world.

But now the government believes it can monetise Indian content while also promoting Indian talent. Towards this end, I&B Minister Anurag Singh Thakur has announced a tie-up with Amazon Prime and the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).

The I&B Ministry and Amazon along with IMDb have struck an understanding across seven points and the drafting of the announcement sounds very corporate -- it says a lot but means nothing.

Take for instance the first point: Amazon and I&B Ministry will collaborate to promote creative talent, commence capacity-building measures and showcase Made in India creative content globally.

It did not mean anything to me and I am not an MBA! What made sense to me was the part about Promote Made In India Creative Content. Isn't the content we make creative? What is creative content? As for 'promote talent', it promotes itself. What are 'capacity building' measures? Some kind of aphrodisiac?

Then, it says, enable'discovery of Indian talent' through IMDb! If one is familiar with IMDb, one knows it is a listing portal. It rates films and is not known for hunting, identifying or discovering talent.

The next proposal is: Prime Video and miniTV will work towards creating internships and scholarship opportunities for FTII and SRFTII students and curate masterclasses for students as well as '75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow'.

FTII stands for the Film & Television Institute of India and SRFTII, similarly, is the acronym for the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute. Internships and scholarships are fine, but doesn't the ministry trust its own FTII and SRFTII that it needs further endorsement by IMDb? That is the Raj mentality. Seeking endorsements from the goras and not trusting our own institutions.

Rest of the proposals agreed to not amount to much. One says: Iconic content from NFDC, Doordarshan and IFFI to be showcased on Prime Video and miniTV to commemorate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Almost all the content that the Ministry calls iconic is available on various online portals such as YouTube and, what is more, the NFDC is not known to properly preserve the film negatives in its possession.

A couple of filmmakers who made films with NFDC finance did ask the corporation to sell their negatives and film rights to them, but were refused.

One does not expect much to come out of this deal between the I&B Ministry and Amazon and IMDb.

As the world accepts yoga to be beneficial and many outside India also follow the Bhagavad Gita, it would be best for the I&B Ministry to choose specific subjects to promote through OTT platforms. Except for the monuments in the North and, to an extent in Rajasthan, the ones in the rest of India have not been exposed o the western world.

As for Indian classical music, many artistes have earned renown and a big following abroad on their own. That is also one faculty that needs to be zeroed in on for promotion not only in the West, but also in India, where interest in classical music seems to be waning.

It would be proper to promote India thematically: temples, music, monuments, fashion and so on.

SO WHAT IF HE'S 58!

Salman Khan has come out in favour of clean content on OTT platforms and the rest of the media. Others on Twitter have pounced on him as if Salman Khan always indulged in such stuff and is now trying to be Mr Clean! Salman tweeted:

"I just think that there should be a censor on OTT and this vulgar nudity, gali galoch should stop ASAP. 15-16-year-olds are watching such content on their phone."

The media has accused Salman of the things he has done did in his films, but those on Twitter have reacted with abuses and insults. Social media such as Twitter is the abode of cowards who gather the courage to call names to others behind the safety of their handles.

Don't be surprised if you find them catching the first day, first show of the next Salman Khan film!

Twitter is the place to vent frustration and the handles are not expected to offer any constructive criticism. But, the media?

Some have attributed motives to Salman's attempts to build a good image. They have mentioned how he started appearing topless in his movies, thereby compelling Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan to also flaunt their muscles! If one follows Indian mythology, all gods and other characters went topless.

A media commentator even said that the 'Bollywood mafia (?)' is jealous of OTT, which is why Salman made such a comment. What do you think feeds OTT if not the films?

A watchable OTT serial comes once in a while. Films ensure their survival, at least in India. None of media people picking on Salman misses out on mentioning his age: 58. Don't know what is wrong about being 58 and yet so fit and commanding a mass following as well!

To cite instances of Salman baring his body, or kissing on screen, or using lewd gestures or abusive language is not true. Of course, he is known to make unacceptable gestures in real life, even to women journalists. As for using dialogues with double meaning, the practice has been a part of Indian films from time immemorial.

If one dwells deeper, the lyrics of almost every second song have double meanings. Take for example the song from 'Murder', 'Bheege honth tere', or 'Balam pichkari...' from 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'. Just search on the Net and you will find a long list of songs with double meaning.

TRAILER SLOT WORKS: PVR

In my column last week (April 9, 2023), I had referred to and expressed some reservations about PVR-INOX introducing a 30-minute slot to screen trailers of forthcoming films.

Mr Gautam Dutta, Co-CEO, PVR, has averred that the idea has been accepted by the viewers and the chain has registered 36,000 attendees in the initial days.

On my part, I suggested that as the promos appear first on YouTube, for their 30-minute slot, the cinema management should work with producers to seek a premiere release of these trailers a week before they appear online.

Also, add a little more footage, such as a few scenes and, maybe, a song number.

Mr Dutta said that this was just the beginning and they were working into ways of making the scheme more attractive.

Source: IANS