Film star Kamal Haasan announced here on Thursday that the Media & Entertainment Business Conclave (MEBC) to be held here on December 1 and 2 was part of an initiative aimed at uniting the film industry in the South with the rest of the States, in what was an indirect reference to Bollywood.
Addressing a press conference here in his capacity as Chairman of MEBC of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Mr. Haasan said it was the first step to making the international film fraternity to sit up and take notice of the Indian industry's quality. It would help the people concerned to work closely and enhance its potential, while offering them an opportunity to explore global linkages from a single platform.
“We cannot be tied down to colloquial, linguistic barriers and borders. First we need to go national and then international,” he stated. When laws and regulatory mechanisms were brought in by the government, they should be aimed at convergence of the different sectors in the industry and prove mutually beneficial. Several problems needed to be addressed, he said and in response to a question about piracy, he described it as “a global phenomenon”.
Sangeetha Reddy, chairperson, FICCI-AP said the entertainment industry in India that was estimated at Rs. 60,000 crore was registering a healthy growth of 18 per cent till the recession brought it down to 14 per cent. Things of late, though, were picking up and it was being looked at as a sunrise industry.
Film producer D. Suresh Babu said FICCI had been organising such meets for the past 12 years in Mumbai. “However, a majority of the regional industry representatives do not get involved and only very few of us from here attend them. Is regional the new national, is the new theme,” he said.
Information and Public Relations Commissioner C. Parthasarathy, who represented the government, said it was always friendly towards the film and entertainment industries and the media. The MEBC forum would provide a platform for problems to be identified and dealt with, he said.
