Films for public diplomacy. This seems to be the new mantra for the government's External Affairs Ministry as part of its effort to reach out to a larger audience outside India.
The Ministry's Public Diplomacy Division had initiated the "India Is", a digital platform campaign to connect and interact with people from all over the world and make them think more about India.
"It is important to reach out to wider world and connect, it is equally important to reach out to the person next to you, especially to the youth of this demographically changing country," External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said at a reception held recently to celebrate the successful completion of two years of 'India Is'.
"Every bit of Internet search gives you new impulse. And, with a platform like Google, it allows one to look into every nook and corner of India," Khurshid said.
Five short films made by upcoming filmmakers, and co-produced by noted director Anurag Kashyap and Viacom 18 was released on YouTube as part of the web-based campaign.
Kashyap also hailed the India-themed public-private partnership that offers platforms to young and independent filmmakers, to reach out to their audience, which he said "wasn't possible before the Internet".
"An initiative like this is not just offering platforms to young, independent filmmakers to showcase their work, which would be hard to come by otherwise, but also is giving us windows to the different unknown worlds that exist in smaller places of India, not seen in mainstream," said the filmmaker.
While Indian feature films from the Raj Kapoor eras of the 50s and the 60s depicting mainstream India are still popular especially in Central Asian countries, contemporary web-based short films seem to be giving a peek into the "microcosm of India."
Songs like "Awara Hoon" and "Mera Juta Hai Japani" from the black and white era of Raj Kapoor's heydays are still popular in Russia, Kazakhstan and other neighbouring countries.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and wife Gursharan Kaur, on their visit to Russia in 2011, were regaled by hit numbers from Raj Kapoor-starrer films, played out by the Russian presidential orchestra.
The orchestra had played "Awaara Hoon" from the 1951 movie "Awaara", which was the most popular film in the erstwhile Soviet Union, and 'Jeena Yahan Marna Yahan' from the film "Mera Naam Joker" (1970) starring Russian actress Kseniya Ryabinkina.
The partnership of the Public Diplomacy division with Google's YouTube, one of the biggest live contest-sharing website on the internet, is seen by both the MEA as well as Google to "build the India Brand further on a global stage".
