Indian films are doing well around the world and the country will market them aggressively in the years to come, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Saturday.
Prasad was speaking at a special session to discuss the role of ethnic media at the ongoing Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in New Delhi.
"Indian films have become toast of the world. People all over the world are watching it even if they don't understand the language," he said, while addressing a roundtable discussion with Indian media owners and professionals from several countries.
He said every year India was producing 900 films in 30 languages.
"Film development is our focus and we want to bring Bollywood at the international scene," said Prasad. "We have taken several steps regarding this. Goa has been made the venue for international film festivals and infrastructure is being developed accordingly to promote Indian films at the global level."
He said a memorandum of understanding has been signed with Italy and Canada to co-produce Indian films. "Negotiations are on with France and England to fix similar deals," said Prasad.
He narrated anecdotes to highlight the popularity of Indian films abroad.
"When I went to Paris, I saw Devdas was being shown in 50 cinema halls in and around Paris. In Morocco, 25,000 people watched Chalte Chalte. This is remarkable," he said.
He predicted a brilliant future for the Indian entertainment industry and said India's profile in terms of age was rapidly changing.
"Today, 45 per cent of Indians are 25 years or below. In the years to come, it is predicted that 55 per cent of the population will be 25 years or below. This means a huge market for the entertainment industry with a large number of young population," he said.
"I hope you all know that both our Prime Minister [Atal Bihari Vajpayee] and Deputy Prime Minister [Lal Kishenchand Advani] are great film lovers. Mr Advani was a film critic as a journalist before entering politics."
He said the era of co-production and international marketing has started, and India could well benefit from this opportunity.
"Today is the world of international marketing. The film Lagan was marketed in China by 20th Century Fox. We have to look for similar collaborations to tap the international market," he said, while urging the Indian diaspora to work together to promote Indian movies at the global level.
He said the New Delhi-based Indian Institute of Mass Communication has increased the reserved seats for NRIs from 5 to 10 from the next academic session. In addition to this, a six-week course in journalism for NRIs has also been introduced at the IIMC. From next session, one seat will be reserved for NRI's in Pune's Film and Television Institute of India in both acting and direction courses.
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