* The late Yash Chopra, who chaired the media and entertainment committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) for many years, was a face everyone missed. However, Uday Shankar, CEO of Star India, has filled in the position rather well. (He is also chairman of the M&E committee for Ficci.) In his opening speech, Mr Shankar tore into the inadequacies of the business: its lack of unity and the trouble with data, not just in TV but across the board in films and other segments. He also pointed to the employment-generating capacity of the industry and how policy makers have ignored it.
But the thing that struck most was his argument that without freedom of expression, no media industry could grow. "There is a strong positive correlation between creativity and the space for free expression. Silicon Valley's pre-eminent role in global media and technology can be directly attributed to the freewheeling culture of 1960s and 1970s California. So, what is troubling to me is that in a very competitive world, we are questioning the scope of free speech - one of the few real sources of advantage for us," Mr Shankar said.
This has huge resonance, since this column has been arguing on similar lines. For every hour of programming needed in China, there are only six minutes available. Since China is not a democracy, its ability to generate enough content to monetise its superior media infrastructure remains hobbled. We, on the other hand, have loads of content trying to make money on terrible infrastructure. There are some very critical lessons for us as we take and give offence and as we discuss the degrees by which freedom of expression should be curtailed.
* Nothing beats the intellectual satisfaction of listening to a filmmaker discuss his or her craft and decode it. Mira Nair did that very articulately with a somewhat gushing Zoya Akhtar. Ms Nair's ability to discuss the various influences on her cinema and what they resulted in - the way she looks at actors and scripts - was an eye-opener. For example, the casting and funding of The Reluctant Fundamentalist and how she went around getting them right is a lesson in how the global film market operates. Even though I am not a fan of her cinema, the Nair session rated as one of the best.
* Karan Johar is co-chairman of the Ficci entertainment committee, a talented filmmaker, TV host and a wit. But one does wish other filmmakers or writers were given a chance to anchor sessions around the creative, business or other aspects of cinema. To his credit, Mr Johar speaks well. He is an audience puller, but his cute style of anchoring does not help take a topic further and deeper. And that really is what Frames needs to do.
* Some of the international speakers Ficci conjures are fantastic. Tom Freston, former head of Viacom, and Jim Gianopulos, CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, are the two who stand out in my memory from past years. So I was really looking forward to Anne Sweeney, the woman credited with turning Disney's TV business around and the one slated to take over from chairman and CEO Bob Iger when he retires in 2015.
But, like most speakers from Disney I have heard in various parts of the world, Ms Sweeney disappointed. She made a safe, non-insightful, corporate kind of presentation that said nothing new to anyone who had read even a single business story about Disney. This is all the more disappointing because as a company Disney is so hot. It is one of the world's largest media companies and has literally written the book on juicing characters and brands to get maximum value. After 20 years, it has finally got its act together in India. And yet all Ms Sweeney offered was an example of how content could be tailored for local markets. It really would be fun if Disney could loosen up as a company.
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