This is the second time a Bollywood contingent met the PM in two months to discuss issues related to the industry
Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; December 20, 2018) 

On Tuesday evening, a team of Bollywood producers and actors met PM Narendra Modi in Mumbai on his one-day visit to Maharashtra and discussed some of the key issues being faced by the film industry in India at large. Producers Karan Johar, Ritesh Sidhwani, Siddharth Roy Kapur (also the President of the Film Producers Guild), Rakesh Roshan, Ronnie Screwvala, and lyricist-poet Prasoon Joshi (the Chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification) were a part of the contingent, along with actor-producers Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn. Talking about the meeting, Prasoon Joshi told us, “It was a good and constructive interaction and I think it’s really reassuring for the film fraternity that the PM took out time and gave his full attention to industry issues relating to the business and that of the future of the entertainment industry, among other things.”

Rakesh Roshan added, “Although I couldn’t be a part of the entire meeting, what I did understand was that Mr Modi is extremely receptive towards the film industry’s needs and he acknowledges our contribution to India’s multi-dimensional growth. He has assured us that he will look into our needs and address them as soon as possible, which is extremely relieving for us.”

A similar Bollywood contingent met the PM two months ago on October 24 in Delhi. The group was led by Ritesh Sidhwani. In the previous meeting, they had urged the PM to acknowledge cinema’s contribution to India’s financial growth and in promoting bilateral ties with other nations. According to Siddharth Roy Kapur, who had attended the previous meeting, the PM had admitted that delegates from all over the world had been discussing Indian cinema with him.

While talking to us at the recently-concluded NFDC Film Bazaar in Goa, Siddharth had said, “Our October 24 meeting with the PM was very encouraging. Our objective was to discuss how the soft power of the Hindi film industry could be leveraged to take the story of India around the world and to also highlight how the impediments in the industry’s growth can be removed. We had even discussed how markets like China have grown. We were all on the same page.” Siddharth also highlighted that in the previous meeting with the PM, the contingent had discussed Hindi cinema’s demand to be officially granted an industry status from the government. He shared, “We can’t be cynical here; we have to hope that our endeavours will be awarded some day. There are obstacles in our growth. The screen density in India is very low, although we are a film crazy nation. We want our industry to be pulled out of the ‘sin’ products-and-services category. There have been many GST council meetings and various other industries have benefited from that, but cinema continues to be in the sin category and it also bears the mar of double taxation, which it doesn’t deserve. It’s important for us to be able to shoot in our own country and for that, we need easier clearances. Other nations lay out a red carpet for us to come and film there. We want that back home, so we don’t have to travel elsewhere. It generates employment.”

After the recent meeting, Modi tweeted, “Had an extensive and fruitful interaction with a delegation from the film and entertainment industry. The delegation spoke about the studies being made by the film and entertainment industry, and gave valuable inputs relating to GST for their sector.”
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MUMBAI MIRROR (December 20, 2018)

The meeting of a delegation of the Hindi film industry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi came under fire on Wednesday for its exclusion of female representation with some activists and filmmakers pointing out that it was 2018 and asking, “Where are the women?”

On Tuesday, an 18-member panel, including Karan Johar, Ajay Devgn, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Sidhwani and CBFC chief Prasoon Joshi, met the prime minister to discuss how to take the entertainment industry to the next stage.

No woman was part of the “manel” (a term used for all-male panels) representing an industry where women play a pivotal role not just as actors but also as directors, producers and writers, a female producer said. It was a year when skewed gender politics in the workplace, including in the entertainment industry, became a topic of heated debate with India being hit by its own #MeToo tsunami that swept away some big names, she said, asking not to be named.

“Where are the women of the industry?” tweeted #MeToo India’s Twitter handle. Director Leena Yadav said it is sad that female voices are being ignored, especially when the ticket window has been tremendously responsive to women directors. “They are ignoring what is happening at the box office vis-a-vis women directors and their films and ignoring them is sad and it is not only sad but being very unaware in today’s world and regressive in today’s world. So that is really sad,” Yadav was quoted as saying.

But the filmmaker, who has earlier made Shabd and Parched, said she refuses to feel sorry for herself or sidelined. “I can feel offended by it but it doesn’t affect me to that level as it does not wipe out my existence. I feel sorry for them rather than for myself,” she said.

Alankrita Shrivastava of Lipstick Under My Burkha, which was well received by critics and audiences, also spoke out. “Would be great to have female representation in these delegations. It is 2018,” she wrote on Twitter.

Producer Guneet Monga, whose short film Period. End of Sentence has made it to Oscar 2019’s list of 10 films, said it would have been wonderful to see some women on the panel.

“It is great that they have met the PM and I am sure it is going to advance the industry. But it would have been wonderful if there were women (in the meeting),” Monga said.

“I don’t know when this was planned. I don’t feel sad about it, I feel great that industry people met PM. I hope GST reform happens and I hope it all benefits the industry. It will be great to have women representation (though),” she said.

Another woman producer said on condition of anonymity that it would have been nice to have women but the meeting was initiated by the government and the all-male representation was an accident, not choice.

“It is not that they put together a forum that did not include women... rather lot of women today are active in the decision making and the growth of the industry in the Producers’ Guild. It would have been nice to have female representation. I am hoping there is another time when women will be represented,” she added.

Another delegation, which met the PM on October 24, had no women either. Ritesh, who had led an earlier panel for a meeting with the Prime Minister in October, said it was for the first time that a PM of India had “interacted with a delegation of the film industry”. “Heartfelt thank you to the honorable Prime Minister @narendramodi ji for taking out time to hear us at length...,” Akshay said.