Noting that Indian films that once focused on “helplessness” are now changing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that “in today’s India, there are more solutions than there are problems”.
The PM was addressing a gathering of film personalities after inaugurating the National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai.
“Films and society are a reflection of each other. What you see in films is happening in society and what is happening in society is seen in films,” Mr. Modi said.
Once, only rich people from “Tier 1 cities” could enter the film industry, but now artistes from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are getting a foothold on the strength of their artistic abilities, the Prime Minister said.
“This shows India is changing. Earlier, poverty was considered a virtue... Films were about poverty, helplessness. Now, along with problems, solutions are also being seen. If there are a million problems, there are a billion solutions,” he added.
“Films used to take 10-15 years to get completed. Famous films were actually known for the [long] time taken for their completion... Now, films get finished in a few months and in a stipulated time-frame. Similar is the case of government schemes. They are now being finished in a stipulated time-frame,” Mr. Modi said.
The PM mentioned that the museum has 30-hour-long digitised footage of World War II. With this, the valour of 1.5 lakh Indian soldiers who died in that war will be known to the world, he said.
“Our films are immensely popular outside the country too,” Mr. Modi said, adding that he had met some world leaders who could recite entire lyrics of Indian songs though they did not know the language.
‘Soft power’
Films have played a huge role in India’s soft power, he said. At the start of his speech, the PM invoked the popular line from the recently released film Uri: The Surgical Strike . “How is the josh ?” he asked, drawing laughter and applause.
