Film industry should look beyond the market: Pranab Mukherjee

President Pranab Mukherjee today called upon the Indian film industry to focus beyond the market by nurturing "universal human values" as he said that cinema represented in the true sense the country's soft power.
Speaking at the 62nd National Awards ceremony here, he also favoured opening of more screens to sustain the benefits that digitisation has brought about in the market where 60 to 80 per cent revenues are collected in the first week itself.
The President said that while Hindi cinema was doing well internationally, regional films needed a push to enjoy the same level of visibility.
"I urge the film industry to look beyond markets and work together to help nurture universal human values that draw on our rich civilisational heritage that celebrates diversity and nurtures inclusiveness," the President said as he quoted noted Bengali filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak.

"Our movies not only showcase the multicultural diversity of our country but are also a tribute to our linguistic richness. They are a national treasure and our country's 'soft power' in the true sense of the term, forging international ties and navigating global horizons with ease," he said.
Noting the growing importance of social media in promoting a film, the President said that technology has brought down the cost of production and expanded the mechanisms of dissemination.
"Promotion and marketing of films has now taken on a new avatar with substantial marketing happening on social media -- news of a good film now spreads quicker on twitter than by word of mouth. I also understand 2014 saw the launch of four film and entertainment-focused investment funds, which is welcome..." he said.

"We need to reinforce this trend by ensuring the building of more screens for the overall health of our cinema. By now, mainstream Hindi cinema is internationally recognised. We must also make focussed efforts to project our regional films whose numbers as well as content are equally impressive and deserve global attention," Mukherjee said.