Mumbai: Film Director Shekhar Kapoor Inaugurates National Seminar on Indian Cinema and Soft Power
GG News Bureau
Mumbai, 4th May. Renowned Film Director Shekhar Kapoor on Tuesday inaugurated the National Seminar titled ‘Indian Cinema and Soft Power’ organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (lCCR) in Mumbai.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and ICCR President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe graced the inaugural function held at the Raj Bhavan.
Addressing the gathering, Shekhar Kapoor said it is an opportune time for the Asian countries to become the prime culture of the world.
He said ‘There was a time during my youth when I aspired to become like Americans. This was only due to the influence of American media.’ Now it is our turn; Asia is rising and India and China are two nations who can cultivate their soft power to become major influencers in the world.
Kapoor added that China is already making all out efforts to achieve that’.
Stressing upon the need for technology upgradation, Shekhar Kapoor said “If India has to use Cinema as a soft power, we have to win the minds and hearts of the future generations around the world”.
He said ‘90 per cent of the youth in the US and world are watching games apart from films and OTT.’ “We need to think of telling our stories through popular media like gaming using the latest technologies. I would like to see games featuring Indian characters in Indian costumes’ he added.
ICCR President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said ‘Today, there exists a great sense of goodwill and attraction for Indian culture around the world but we need to create a deeper understanding of India and Cinema could be an effective medium for it.”
He added, our recent films mostly focus on women empowerment. Many times keeping business in mind the negative side of the story is shown, but we need to paint the complete picture.
He further said ‘topics like the struggle of the people of the North-East, dilemma of the NRIs about to stay or return to homeland etc still need to be explored by the mainstream cinema.
Governor of Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshyari said Bollywood can compete with world cinema today; it is popular across the world. He added that Yoga and Yoga Day Celebrations have also become the soft power of our country.’
Information & Broadcasting Minister, Anurag Thakur will be the Chief Guest at the valedictory function at the Film Division, Mumbai on Wednesday.
Various technical sessions of the symposium on ‘Indian Cinema and Soft Power’ will be chaired by eminent personalities and renowned experts like Subhash Ghai, Roopa Ganguly, Bharat Bala, Ambarish Mishra, Arunaraje Patil, Ashok Rane, Meenakshi Shedde, Manoj Muntashir, Paresh Rawal, and G P Vijay Kumar.
Cinematic colonialism, Indian Cinema as a Vehicle of spreading awareness about the idea of India abroad, regional cinema and its global influence, Indian cinema’s engagement with foreign audiences, global influence of Indian cinematic music are some of the key topics that will be discussed over the two days.
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