Event: CII Big Picture Summit

Venue: Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi

The summit organized by CII was meant to be a platform where business leaders, performers and policy makers could get together to discuss on best ways to run the media and entertainment industry. Ease of doing business, increasing transparency and plugging monetary leaks were the major concerns addressed here. Also on top of agenda were ways to fend-off or even leverage the technological disruptions.

This write-up will describe session wise the major points discussed by the panel members and the responses to the questions posed by the audience.

Day 1

Inaugural Session

This session consisted of 5 panel members. The panel members were as follows:

Mr. Sudhanshu Vats

As the head of the CII division concerned with the summit, it was his privilege to get the proceedings underway. He introduced to the audience the work CII’s National Committee on Media and Entertainment was into. The division conducts extensive business research to understand the various nuances of this sector in order to create a dialogue between the various stakeholders while eventually improving qualitative output. He also introduced the panel members, describing in detail their respective achievements. This speaker was ever present in between the discussion while acting as the principal moderator of this session.

Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu

The Honourable Cabinet Minister began his talk by first affirming that he had only spent a few months in this ministry as earlier he was with “Parliamentary Affairs”. Thus he is still in the learning mode, while few milestones have already been achieved. He spoke about the reform- perform- transform agenda of the present Prime Minister and how that has permeated across the ministry. In addition he coined the 3 Ss- skill, scale and speed- without which none of the plans can be properly implemented. The ministry is presently people and nation oriented. The philosophy is to learn and not earn alone. This speaker emphasized on the fact that India is a nation of treasure and this must eventually reflect into the diverse art forms. Film and other versions of entertainment must bear the hallmarks. He also made the audience understand that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is a regulator and not a strangulator. Thus the stakeholders must not view the TRAI with fear or suspicion but as a partner for the people’s benefit. The Cabinet Minister then proceeded to discuss the PM’s JAM strategy. This JAM stood for the triple goals of – Jan-Dhan, Aadhar and Mobile. These three tools he feels will enable India to mobilize bank accounts, transparency and last mile connectivity. He also feels that India is on track to achieve success in schemes such as “Make in India”, “Skill India” and “Digital India”. He ended the event on a note about the importance of vernacular or regional languages. He feels that of course English is needed as a nation unifier, but as far as possible people must communicate with each other in their native tongues. Within such languages is hidden the culture and history of the region stretching back millennia.

Mr. Harit Nagpal

Mr. Nagpal began his speech by speaking in a light vein about how he felt at unease to be at such an august forum. He feels that only in democracies is it possible that the lowest rung which included entities with barely much profit margins, to address such large crowds. This was the beauty that India was standing on. It is time to leverage the population dividend. Usually, it is those that create content who deliver speeches, but in this instance it was a distributor. This speaker also gave an outline of the kind of service his organization Tata Sky has been offering to the customers. A customer-centric approach is key to Tata Sky’s success.

Mr. R.S. Sharma

Mr. Sharma began by saying that how the ubiquitous nature of smartphones, tablets or wearables has turned around the world of media or entertainment. The latter is no longer something that users need to strive for specific periods, but indeed available at the click of a button anytime. Consumers are now empowered, being the centre of all business decision making. While disruption in business has always existed, the word used to have negative connotations at earlier times. Now disruption is caused by technology advancements and is considered business innovation. It has led to sources of revenue being disrupted, so no longer possible for existing businesses to be complacent about their cash flows. In this era of convergence across multiple platforms, it is necessary that a single regulator is in charge of all such proceedings. The TRAI’s job is to be business friendly and continue to encourage newer initiatives to develop but at the same time, there has to be some form of control. Just to put it into context, it is the broadcast sector which has run into maximum number of litigations. While the attempt is to clear up the cases as quick or efficiently as possible, there remains a lot of ambiguity as to under whose jurisdiction certain issues fall under. That is where the TRAI needs to be streamlined as the sole regulator for the media, telecom and entertainment industries.

Mr. Ramesh Sippy

This speaker concluded the proceedings for the session. He summarized the views of the panel. He also spoke about his personal experiences within the industry and how certain aspects need to be better streamlined for all stakeholders to be best served.

Session I: The Big Picture Dialogue- will there be symphony at the Altar of Convergence?

This session consisted of 4 panel members. The panel members were as follows:

Two of the speakers from the previous session continued on. There was the release of CII-BCG Vision Report during this session which continued on from the previous one. BCG is the global leader in advising companies regarding business and corporate strategy so used their expertise here to help guide the media industry to indentify major fault lines in order to resolve the issues. The idea of this session was to arrange a brainstorming session involving the industry, regulator, licensor and policy maker all together on the dais.

Session II: Disruption in Television News

This session consisted of 2 panel members. The panel members were as follows:

Ms. Amita Sarkar

Ms. Sarkar introduced Mr. Goswami who had a special address in store. She spoke about how the latter required no introduction being the face of Indian television’s serious news segment. She also spoke about the disruption caused by media channels such as Times Now due to their incredible mission to change the world for a better cause.

Mr. Arnab Goswami

Mr. Arnab Goswami remains ubiquitous on Indian television for his news and information channel Times Now. This speaker discussed his life and career which led him to adopt the divisive personality he tends to demonstrate on-screen. He spoke about his time as a young journalist and how there was little of serious news reporting in the capital city of those days. That is the reason he based his office out of a small establishment on Lower Parel in Mumbai and not in Delhi where majority of the serious news fraternity was based in. He has always believed in challenging established orders if he feels that something wrong is being committed. He mentioned some scams were Times Now was the first media house to break the story. Contrary to usual protocol, Mr. Goswami is a strong believer that objectivity can only be applied up to a certain level in news, but beyond that news telling is an emotional condition. The story of the boy Prince for example drew attention from across the country, in spite of this speaker being lampooned for picking on a relatively trivial issue as it first appeared. But because such a mainstream channel aired this piece of news, it faced attention from across the country. Eventually when the boy was taken out alive, there was a raft of happiness across the crew members of Times Now and indeed across the nation, proving that emotions did play a large part in news reporting. Also on matters of the nation, Goswami believes that it is essential that he take a somewhat skewed approach to support his nation while condemning the atrocities which may take place in any country. He also feels angst at the global domination by western media houses such as BBC or CNN or even the Middle East’s Al-Jazeera. He feels the time has come that Indians can not only lead news within the country but indeed create content for the global audiences. This speaker recounted an incident where members of a leading global news agency were trained by himself and his staff. So he feels that a media disruption is set to be launched over the next few years where a news hub will be led from India for global news. On a lighter note, Goswami spoke about why he had the characteristic method of shouting on-screen because he feels that in this country, that is what people listen to.

Session III: The Day the Music Industry died- Bye bye “Musical” Pie

This session consisted of 6 panel members. The panel members were as follows:

The mood of this committee was comparatively somber as the discussion centred around music piracy. A figure of US $ 4 billion was quoted as to the actual size of the music industry, yet the money really recouped amounted to only US$ 2 million due to theft and piracy. This is a grave problem, and thus the session even pondered this topic, whether the music industry needs to be dead. In addition, taxes are also a heavy burden on the as it is hit industry. A further problem is the technological disruption which means that while consumers want music free to their mobile phones, there remain very few ways for music producers to either charge legitimate money or stop the flow of music through illegal means.

Mr. Annu Kapoor though had a contrarian view to the rest of the panel. He feels that music content id delivered not from the tunes which as it is are highly limited, but because of the lyrics which give character to unique songs. Also he feels that it is a travesty that Indian music directors or film makers are asking protection from the law whereas in fact majority of the music in the country was ‘inspired’ from foreign tunes. He also feels that the majority of films made in the country were based around stereotypical potboiler themes with core commercial purposes and it was not right for them to ask for piracy protection when in the first place the industry isn’t that ethical itself. An audience member raised a query as to why his songs are not getting accepted on YouTube as tunes were common due to classical themes being used though the singing style and part of the lyrics were unique. So here Mr. Kapoor clarified that if the song was genuinely unique then there was no chance for YouTube or any other online player to refuse license. He even hummed the tune himself to make the audience understand the methodology.

Day 2

Interactive Session

This session consisted of 2 panel members. The panel members were as follows:

Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee

This representative from CII was responsible for introducing the keynote speaker to flag off the day’s proceedings. He also acted as the moderator for the question and answer round with the audience.

Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore

The Hon’ble Minister of State began by elucidating how ironically maximum animations for Hollywood films are either developed by Indians or in India. The film Bahubali is particularly remarkable for its special effects and animations. This was created in India but received plaudits worldwide. What is needed is a greater integration between the IT industry and that of the media plus entertainment. For this greater collaboration is needed between the IT hub of Bengaluru with the home of the film industry in Mumbai. Also more trained professionals are needed. Talent recruitment in fields such as animation, film making, story writing and special effects is needed for the media industry. For this purpose, the government is setting up a new institute for filming and videography in Guwahati. Certifications are being provided accordingly there. Col. Rathore spoke about the trending topic of censorship. He was candid in admitting that there would be complete freedom of expression for artistes, yet anything that cannot be spoken off-the-camera cannot be spoken on it. A new fund has been set up for helping films based around socially relevant topics. Funding can be up to a maximum limit of Rs. 1 crore. This is specifically to target the most relevant or well known of film festivals. A film bazaar has also been set up to benefit startups with seed funds, centralized knowledge pool and recruitments. To reiterate India’s presence in the film festivals, Col. Rathore mentioned that in Cannes during the film festival, maximum advertisements were from Indian companies especially media houses.

Col. Rathore next spoke about how he felt about the proverbial small screen in India. He feels that the small screen is now actually big as it has greater bandwidth. It is used far more with hundreds of millions of viewers tuned in to TV programmes at any given point of time in India. The numbers estimated are around 300 million households. In fact in December a meeting has been planned to bring together the state ministers with the union ones in information and broadcasting. A new category for most innovative state has been launched in the National Film Awards to honour states which excel in experimentation. The experiments could be social themes explored or technologies used.

As a response to one of the question, Col. Rathore acknowledged the role of the oft maligned Prasar Bharti confirming that it was the only broadcaster in the entire world that beamed content in 23 different languages. Being a nationalized body, they even did news in Sanskrit. This speaker also admitted regret that online content was under the aegis of the IT ministry and not his, thus often alignment issues arose. Better streamlining of content both online as well as offline was needed.

Session VII: Digital- the new Mantra for Innovation and Growth

This session consisted of 8 panel members. The panel members were as follows:

Mr. Vivan Sharan

The moderator introduced the panel members and experts to the audience. He described the role that his firm Koan Advisory is playing as a business consulting partner to several industries as part of the knowledge economy.

Mr. Manoj Sinha

The Honourable Minister of State was introduced as a technocrat, the kind of people ideal for ministries like his. He himself spoke about the various initiatives that the ministry is taking in order to ease off business. He also spoke about how the communications are being used to benefit his other portfolio railways that are being modernized.

Mr. Priyank Kharge

Being from Karnataka, he spoke about the particular advances the state and especially the IT hub of Bengaluru have made with regards to technology. He spoke about how Bengaluru has always been a supporter of technology, thus unsurprisingly the city geared up best to the IT revolution. Now specific technology parks have been set up where companies are free to pursue their creativity to develop cutting edge technology based tools. Startups are also being helped and for this specific help has been extended to them. Bengaluru is also being developed as a smart city which will further extend the technology driven growth of the megacity.

Ms. Kaveree Bamzai

As a leading journalist, Ms. Bamzai spoke about how her beautiful profession has shaped herself. She also confessed, that she was herself far removed from technological disruptions but understands that digital is the way to move forward. That is the reason, that her publication the India Today has gone digital in addition to the physical editions. Specific content is developed for this purpose. This has been going on for several years but has picked up further recently.

Mr. Sunil Kumar Singhal

Due to the unfortunate shortage of time, this speaker was not able to speak much. But he addressed the concerns of the panel and the audience, reassuring everyone on behalf of the regulator TRAI, that all decisions are being taken for the wider good. He was not opposed to digital marketing, but feels that some form of content must be controlled as a lot of it could be misinformed.

Mr. Vikram Chandra

As another leader of the media industry, Mr. Chandra described how his channel NDTV has taken steps long back to curb the unfettered growth of digital content. Instead NDTV itself has developed high level content to take on a lot of digital natives. This speaker feels that it is ideal if existing knowledge providers continue to dominate the digital landscape as long as the intentions are correct.

Mr. T.V. Ramachandran

Mr. Ramachandran expressed disappointment at the fact that in India the mobile internet does not work as fast it should due to lack of underground or even over-ground fibre optic. He coined the oxymoron ‘wireless fibres’ as what was the need of the hour. He also pointed out that USA and China were substantially ahead of us in terms of infrastructure. In fact, India was roughly ten years behind those two countries for implementation of 3G mobile technology and a few years for 4G even.

Mr. Harish Vaidyanathan

This speaker spoke about how Microsoft is at the centre of the innovations taking place and how India is primed to take advantage of several of them. India’s proficiency at data warehousing and further analysis was particularly lauded by the speaker.

Session VIII- Censorship to Creative Expression: The changing phase of Indian Cinema

This session consisted of 7 panel members. The panel members were as follows:

Ms. Vanita Kohli Khandekar

The moderator clearly informed the audience at the beginning that she was on standby mode in place of someone else who faced some unfortunate emergency. Her knowledge of the subject was not as good as the person she originally replaced but overall she had a firm grasp on the media and entertainment industry. She set the stall by telling us that among all the industries in the country, it is art which is facing maximum repression. Technically, the name of the censor board has been changed to certifications, yet no one refers to them by the new name due to the continued status as a screening body rather than a facilitator. All forms of art especially cinema are subject to archaic laws which need to be altered.

Mr. Manish Tewari

Being the former Union Cabinet Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Mr. Tewari has in-depth knowledge of the workings. He confessed that indeed, restrictions do apply to movies, yet steps had been taken up by his government to ease them off. Had he remained the man at the helm things would probably changed, but even the present government was taking the right steps. He also added that the Shyam Benegal Committee has drafted down a proposal for altering the workings of the censorship norms. Steps will soon be taken as per the report of the committee.

Mr. Manoj Tiwari

This speaker somewhat differed from the rest of the panel. He started off by proudly announcing that he was presently shooting for his 100^th film, having done 99 of them so far. He is a veteran actor of the Bhojpuri cinema. Contrary to what others said, Mr. Tiwari says that he has never run into problems with the Censor Board. A lot of the apparently draconian measures of the board are exaggerated. He gave the example of the film Udta Punjab which was apparently subjected to around 90 cuts, yet he feels that this has been what the audience have been told by the media and even the courts. In reality, a few slangs were asked to be cut, but such words have been repeated several times, so all of those have been added as separate ones, though in reality it is all part of the same. He also feels that cinema dictates a lot of influence on the society with this being especially true in a movie mad market like India. So films, he added had a role to play and stick by board norms.

Ms. Nandita Das

This veteran actress and director confirmed the reality that her films have been subjected to. She feels a sort of no-man’s-land exists when it comes to film censorship. She spoke about her experiences with the films Fire and Water where certain vigilante groups in the country took charge and she was afforded little protection by the government. These movies got international acclaim but are almost taboo in this country. On the other hand, mass produced movies lacking in substance have been given clearances just because they never rocked the boat. She feels that the culture of intolerance that has swept through the country is primarily targeting art and artists but not any other field.

Mr. Sudhir Mishra

Mr. Mishra started off by claiming that he was bored. This discussion on censorship had been going on for decades but nothing has really taken place. He recounted instances of his own films being targeted by vigilante groups. He spoke about the system of disclaimers which had to be inserted at almost every stage. Mr. Mishra sadly confessed that when bans are imposed or A certifications put in, it is only the producer who is denied the money, as with today’s digital age, there is no way that any authority can stop any content from being leaked on some online source. He then recounted that anyway script writers do not make much money, but on top of that there are several taxes which are imposed on them as well in addition to the film makers. On the one hand, sarcastically, this speaker claimed that he felt porud that cinema was considered the gatekeeper of societal values. But on the other hand, he feels that this is just an eyewash where bigger things ought to be planned better by the authorities.

Mr. Anubha Sinha

Mr. Sinha feels that cinema does not have much power to influence society, but yet it is only this medium that is targeted for so much of censorship. He feels that cinema must correspond with reality, but only a sanitized version must be presented to the people. He gave the audience an eye opening narration of actual censor board run-ins. He says that the format is archaic, almost British era schoolmaster types. It starts with the director having to wait outside during the entire initial screening to the board. Then, he / she needs to stand throughout while the censor board members assess the criticalities and suggest cuts or otherwise. Cuts are suggested as per the tag. An A tag will have fewer cuts but an 18 or U will have more. Both the film makers are the dais were bemused as to why so many cuts where needed when as it is the movie gets an A certification. Mr. Sinha concluded on a lighter note by suggesting that Bhojpuri films must actually be subjected to greater scrutiny!

Ms. Sharmishtha Mukherjee

As a member of the ruling BJP, this speaker outlined the various plans that the party has regarding film certification. She assured that the government was firmly empathetic to the film fraternity and every step will be taken to address their issues. This includes the reformation of the Cinematograph Act, a reworking of the Censor/Certifications Board, strict action against groups that take law into their own hands, and strong protection of the fraternity who face threats or discord from such groups.

Talk by Maniesh Paul

Maniesh Paul is amongst the most famous of television presenters in India. He hosts the popular Jhalak Dikhla Ja which he has been doing for a while now. His entry was greeted with cheers from the crowd. He spoke about his background, the fact that he came from a very different family so it was a great struggle to reach the entertainment industry. Now he is extremely well settled in Mumbai. He then spoke about how his job is to keep people happy, and he genuinely wants people to be entertained at all times. Maniesh did not want to get into complexities but dealt with all questions gracefully.

Session IX: Solving the Funding Conundrum- The case of a bottle half filled?

This session consisted of 4 panel members. The panel members were as follows:

Funding is one of the most crucial parameters where a gap exists. Bridging the funding- execution gap is a must. FDI can be one of the solutions to this conundrum. However, one of the panel members remarked that FDI may not be the answer as there is ample money present within the country. The industry must lessen its dependency on the government and must look at private funding sources. In South Indian cinema, a form of investment has already developed where corporate funding is seeping into cinema. This has seen improvements in talent spotting as well as in technical aspects such as animations or designing. There exists within western circles that India will be a good place to invest, yet tangible improvements aren’t being seen. Particularly impinging such investment is the fear of unaccounted money. The moderator felt particularly disappointed by India’s rank in the global ease of business ratings.

Session X- Sports Broadcasting in India: A Game Changer

This session consisted of 8 panel members. The panel members were as follows:

Mr. Charu Sharma

As the head of the organization that developed the Kabaddi Premier League (KPL), Mr. Sharma was brimming with pride regarding the kind of development that has been done for Indian sport. Kabaddi lacked the glamour quotient which sports such as cricket or football have, thus this was a positive step in what can eventually lead to inclusive growth. He feels saddened by the plight of Indian sports, but feels that more positive points may be taken from the fact that more Indians are now participating or watching sports at least, even if not playing it. He conducted some sort of a pilot survey within the hall itself, asking the audience whether they watched sports on TV. This was followed by a poll on how many participate actively in the same. To the first question, he received a highly positive response, but much less so for the second, thus clearly proving his point. The fact that people are watching sports is a positive sign but more participation needs to take place. He also urged the women in the room to take a pledge to allow their children to participate more in sports and not be dogged by academics alone. He feels women have that power to reform society. Overall, he addressed the audience to not lose hart, but take encouragement from several who have done well.

Mr. Vijay Goel

The Honourable Minister spoke towards the end because he wanted to pile in all the information. He expressed regret at the blame that got attached to his ministry during the dismal performance of the Olympics contingent. Yet he also reminded that this was the games where there was highest ever participation or qualification from India. He further reiterated that he had been in power for barely a few months, so it was not right to expect a miracle from him alone. Mr. Goel pointed out that in order to develop a sporting ethos, all the grounds belonging to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) which comes under his authority, will soon open its doors to the general public. This is in stark contrast to the states where there are far fewer open spaces for younger children to play. His other concern is that sports at present falls under the aegis of the Concurrent List and not Central, so his ministry’s control is limited.  He urged the people of the country to go out and play. Mr. Goel also spoke about the fact that the prizes accorded to sports stars after they won medals at international events, has often been used by the athletes themselves to develop fresh set of talent in that field. Many of them have opened up centres of excellence, as evidenced by the remarkable success of the academy run by former shuttler Pullela Gopichand. He has already planned that existing types of marathons in the country to be clubbed together as a marathon day when all people run. All need not run the full marathon but even a few kilometers will do just to boost the sporting values of the nation which will ultimately lead to a better medal tally.

Mr. Ayaz Memon

While introducing himself, Mr. Memon confirmed that while he has been a journalist, his first love is with the sporting part of that. He has written extensively on various sports in the country. He has covered sports across the country and even outside. In addition, he has even co-authored a book. Here he spoke about how the future of sports broadcasting looks like in India. Several digital channels are already functioning and set to transform viewing in coming times. Hotstar for example has already made changes to sports viewership patterns. Commercial models will need to be developed in order to tap this huge market.

The other speakers chipped in with their useful contributions. One of them mentioned about a race that takes place in Shanghai called the Vertical Race. Due to the paucity of open spaces in China, executives run up the tallest buildings in Shanghai with their bosses overseeing. This way they have maximized vertical space. This session was otherwise particularly remarkable due to the awards presented to two young para-athletes. Mr. Suyash Singh Jadhav and Mr. Varun Singh Bhati are para-athletes who won medals for India at the recently concluded Paralympics at Rio de Janeiro. They were both handed cash prizes. Being specially-abled and yet hungry for such success, gave the audience the kind of hope that nothing is impossible if sights are well set on them.

Conclusion

Overall the CII Big Picture Summit lived up to its billing of bringing the best of people from across stakeholder groups. This even was ideal for organizations to tap business intelligence on the vast network that is the media and entertainment industry. Industry insiders got the opportunity to network with peers at other organizations or at different points of the value chain. They also got to interact with policy makers, funding partners or international agencies. In its fifth year, this event proved a bigger success than ever before.