The Guild USINPAC Seminar - A Resounding Success
7th January 2004
 The recently held seminar on mutual co-operation and collaborations between our entertainment industry and the N.R.I. populace in U.S.A. was a roaring success on all counts. Organsed jointly by the Film & Television Producers Guild of India and USINPAC (US India Political Action Committee) on the 7 th of January 2004 this epoch initiative struck the right chord amongst the invitees and promises to bring about new vistas of alliances between the two countries.
Sanjay Puri ( Director of USINPAC) started proceedings by laying out the various ways that USINPAC could help Bollywood. These include facilitating N.R.I. investments, helping curb video piracy through their connections with the Dept. of Justice and the American Congress among others. Several American states like New Mexico, Hawaii, Nevada etc are also keen to offer interest free loans to Indian Producers to shoot their films in those states and USINPAC can help in starting the negotiations there also.
 Amit Khanna (President of the Guild) then took the floor and led the gathering through a journey into the possibilities and ramifications that the new age holds for the entertainment world. With an acerbic wit punctuating every word, he remarked that today, our movies have become our best brand ambassadors. Recollecting the scenario some 10-15 years back when our movies were treated with derisive comments like clichés or inane melodramas to today when our kind of movies are an accepted genre, Mr Khanna said that the time is ripe to cash in. If the 90's were the IT age, this decade promises to be the entertainment age. Our movies are the most enduring and endearing link that the South Asian Diaspora has for their homeland. This symbiotic relationship should result in better business opportunities. Mr Khanna remarked that the Guild already has an established relationship with Hollywood as M.P.A. (Motion Pictures Association of America) and various studios like SPE, Warner Bros etc are Guild members. He then introduced some leading Guild members to the N.R.I. gathering who in turn shared their thoughts on this initiative.
 Those who spoke included Dr Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Harish Thawani, Ravi Gupta, Dheeraj Kumar, Ganesh Jain,Vinod Pande, Prem Sagar, Manmohan Shetty, Nittin Keni, Mukesh Bhatt, Uday Singh and Ramesh Tekwani . All felt very upbeat about the possibilities in terms of Indo-American collaboration.
Nr Natwar Gandhi (C.O.O. of the Washington District of Columbia) said that the Indian immigrant community in the US is excessively forthcoming and he was happy that such initiatives were being taken. He welcomed all the producers to Washington for shoots and reiterated that all possible facilities would be accorded to them. Congressman Vega from Hawaii urged the Indian makers to create content for the world market and to draw inspiration from the fact that most creative genres that the world prefers to call their own was actually India's gift.
What emerged from this interaction was one irrefutable fact, the N.R.Is in America are very keen on collaborating with their Indian counterparts to create some meaningful content and that American states are going all out to woo the much in demand and happening Indian film makers to film their stories in the States. As to how and to what extent our producers are able to benefit from these opportunities is the moot point. Other Guild members present were Ashutosh Gowariker, Brij Mittle, D. Mukhopadhayay, Harish Dayani, Kiran V Shantaram, Aditya Shastri, Shyam Shroff, Bobby Bedi, Umesh Mehra and Vinod Ganatra. |
