There is an urgent need for an independent film commission backed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India to attract foreign film makers to benefit from the potential of shooting locations and talent from India. This was articulated by experts who participated at the CII India - `The Big Picture’ workshop at Goa coinciding with the 41st International Film Festival of India.

Also there is a general consensus on the requirement of a national film and TV market that creates a buyer-seller platform not only attracting foreign buyers but all to bring all regional stakeholders of India under one umbrella to engage in buying and selling. There is also a need to have an organization to represent Indian films as a sales agent.

Participating in the workshop on India Locales, Manoj Srivastava, CEO Entertainment Society of Goa said that State Government of Goa is considering reimbursing 50% of the service tax to film makers in the state and pushing for further tax concessions from the central government. Manoj also supported for implementation of online clearances for film shooting in India both at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and at the state level.

Kalyan Mukherjee, Director, KAS Movie Makers presenting a case study of India and Kenya pointed out that scripts are cleared in Kenya in two days compared to three weeks in India. ``We need to have an aggressive dedicated team of people who clear the scripts. This needs to be executed on priority even if we are going to pay Rs 50,000 a day to clear film scripts,’’ said Mukherjee.

Junaid Menon, Nomad Films said that India will lose out to countries like Africa and China if we do not put our act together and put India on the top of radar of global film makers. Mohan Krishnan, Prasad Labs said that Indian companies have made a mark in digital restoration. ``We have a good outsourcing model offering quality with  low labour cost.’’

Rajesh Sharma, Director General, Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) who also addressed the workshop said that SEPC is keen to work closely with the industry and take up issues pertaining to export of entertainment services.

Participating at the workshop on “Getting Indian Movies to Global Festival and Markets” eminent film maker Ketan Mehta insisted that film festivals are a vital link in the growth of a film maker and industry as a whole. ``Despite challenges and limitations and challenges Indian film makers are lucky as we have an indigenous market and media that supports our films. However, he lamented on the condition of originals of many classic films getting destroyed and case in point is his movie Mirch Masala which has become like a “cement rock’’.

L Suresh, President, Film Federation of India said that Indian film makers do not do homework in getting their films into global festivals like Cannes or Berlinale.  “It is important to plan early and communicate to festival organizers at the script level.’’

Industry representatives who participated at the workshop also included Meenakshi Shedde, India Consultant for Berlinale and Dubai International Film Festival; Uma DaCunha, Film critic and curator; Frank Stehling, MD Prime House GmbH; Jiten Hemdev, MD Star Entertainment.