Information Technology Minister K. T. Rama Rao on Wednesday talked up a plan to turn Hyderabad into a hub for South Asian film industry.
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“A few years back I had a conversation with a prominent studio owner and asked him what would be required for a world-class studio. He said maybe five acres. ‘After VFX and animation, the film industry has changed. I would require some world-class technicians and studios spread over five acres’, he said. I was surprised,” said the IT Minister inaugurating a two-day India Joy Festival in the city on Wednesday.
“The VFX and animation work for some of the biggest movies like Life of Pi , Bahubali , Magadheera and Arundhati was done in Hyderabad. The global animation industry is slated to be worth $270 billion by next year. We should get a slice of that,” said Mr. Rao. “I see the exponential growth of the animation industry and hyper-personalisation of content as an opportunity to create jobs in Hyderabad and Telangana,” said Mr. Rao as he confessed to binge-watching when illness laid him low.
“OTT broadcasters are partnering with animation studios for original content. Localised in Indian languages. Streaming OTT is worth $2.9 billion logging 8% growth,” said the IT minister as he welcomed the announcement by filmmaker Allu Arvind for a Telugu OTT platform.
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Earlier, Allu Arvind spoke about how content is still the king while the mediums and platforms are changing. “I was binge-watching Game Of Thrones when I realised that the industry is changing. I was little wary about it but just as colour TV didn’t kill the film industry, cable TV didn’t destroy movie watching OTT too will help the industry,” said Mr. Arvind.