Agencies
New Delhi
Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur has announced a partnership between the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Amazon India in the field of media, entertainment and public awareness.
Speaking at the launch of the partnership recently, Thakur said India being an ancient civilisation, offers millions of stories which are yet to be told.
“The gamut of stories transcends time and covers a vast domain from spirituality to software, traditions to trends, folklore to festivals and from rural India to rising India,” he said.
Delving into the steps taken by the ministry to create a conducive atmosphere for the entertainment industry in the country, Thakur said the government recognises the strengths as well as the opportunities of the Indian entertainment industry, especially new platforms such as OTTs.
Speaking about the partnership with Amazon, Thakur stated that the partnership is unique on a number of counts and the Letter of Engagement spans across various aspects of the creative industry.
“The partnership will help strengthen industry-academia linkages through provisions for scholarships, internships, master classes and other opportunities for students at the Film and Television Institute of India and the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute of India. The initiative will help to reduce the period of struggle for the talented artistes coming out of prestigious film institutes of India,” he said.
The Letter of Engagement with Amazon includes aspects on promotion of Indian heritage through a dedicated catalogue of Publication Division’s books on India’s culture on the Amazon e-commerce website, and promotion of Indian music on Amazon Music and Alexa. Voicing his concern for quality of content on OTT platforms, Thakur said the OTT platforms have the responsibility of ensuring that their platforms do not propagate vulgarity and abuse camouflaged as creative expressions. “OTT must reflect the collective conscience of the country,” he said.
Guest of honour for the event, actor Varun Dhawan spoke about the depths being reached by streaming services. He said Indian cinema, by way of streaming, is now reaching the world stage, and streaming services have today given Indian content a reach hitherto unimaginable.
Dhawan highlighted that streaming services act as a leveller and said that “new actors and creators, talent that had so far remained on sidelines, can now connect with audiences worldwide.”