New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said India has the potential to become the content subcontinent, backed by talent in the fields of technology and culture as it emerges as a “hard power” in the world.
Participating in the Raisina Dialogue-2022 here, Thakur said India, with its rich culture and history, has a lot to showcase and emerge as the next AVGC production hub with a mix of hard power and soft power.
“Any nation requires hard power to exist and stay relevant and to exist beyond boundaries a nation needs to have soft power,” he said.
Thakur said centuries ago, India displayed its hard power on the strength of its economy and military, which also helped it expand the soft power through dissemination of its culture, cuisine and architecture in countries such as China, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia.
“In the last few decades India is emerging as a hard power and expanding soft power through cinema,” he said.
Thakur said the world took notice of India after the nuclear test in 1998 under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
He said the Pokhran-II nuclear tests saw global powers impose sanctions, but within three years the way the world looked at India changed, and they acknowledge the country’s hard power.
“Our information technology enabled services (ITES) reached beyond borders There is an interplay of hard power and soft power. Nobody will look at your soft power if you do not have the hard power, Thakur said.
He said Indian films started using technology in a big way and movies such as Bahubali enthralled audiences the world over, making people wonder whether heroes and location portrayed in such films were for real.
Bela Bajaria, Head of Global TV, Netflix said her company was partnering with writers and filmmakers across India to make sure that stories come from all over the country.
Thakur said the government was also encouraging film-making in India through the film facilitation office, while several state governments too were offering incentives to filmmakers.
Director Shekhar Kapur said Indian content has the potential to emerge as a trillion dollar business.