The Hindu Business Line : Film industry moots national policy

Mr S. Jaipal Reddy (right), Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, and Mr K. Devivaraprasad, President, South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, at a conference on regional cinema in Chennai on Friday. — Bijoy Ghosh

Chennai , Sept. 10

THE entertainment business has suffered despite filmmaking being accorded industry status because representative bodies at the national level have not recognised the needs of regional players who contribute significantly to Indian cinema.

Though the Central Government had given it industry status, only a few big players working with industry bodies such as the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have benefited, according to Mr D.V.S. Raju, Chairman, Organising Committee of the All India film industry conference on regional cinema.

Welcoming regional film industry representatives to the inaugural here on Friday, Mr Raju said that unfortunately, the previous government had depended on FICCI and a few large players, who were by no means a representative section of the film industry, for framing measures to support the industry. The subcommittees and expert committees set up by them do not consult industry representatives, so the needs of a large part of the Indian film industry, the regional players, are not recognised, he said.

Mr Raju urged the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to recognise that only the Film Federation of India (FFI), which is the apex body of various State-level industry associations, could effectively represent the film industry.

The regional players such as those in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Orissa account for a lion's share of the 750 feature films produced in India. They have now got together for the conference on regional cinema to create a common platform under the FFI, he said.

He urged that a national policy on films be formulated in consultation with the industry. Some of the major demands were to bring in measures to enable regional players access funding from financial institutions, introduction of uniform rates of entertainment tax, clamp down on piracy and abolition of service tax.

Inaugurating the conference, the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Mr Jaipal Reddy, suggested that a team of representatives could visit Delhi, where he would arrange a meeting with the Finance Ministry officials to sort out some of the issues including service tax and credit support. It is not right that the financial institutions support only a few players, he said.

He would also take up with the State Governments on bringing in uniform rates of taxes. "I do not see why the entertainment tax should be higher than sales tax," he said.

The Government would also look at making the legislations against piracy more stringent, including through amendments in the copyright laws.

Mr Reddy assured the industry that regional players would also be sufficiently represented in the national level bodies.