I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar says Government is keen on promoting childrens’ films : calls for better promotion and marketing

Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting  Prakash Javadekar has said that the government is keen on promoting childrens’ films  by facilitating expansion of their reach.  

On a visit to Mumbai  today, Mr. Javadekar held a review meeting of media units of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting based in the city – i.e. NFDC (National Film Development Corpn),  CFSI (Children’s Film Society of India), Films Division and CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification).

The Minister stressed on the need for production of good films for children, that would contribute to their all round development.  He said, the films produced by the Childrens’ Film Society of India need to be promoted and marketed well. “If the films are made and we are not able to release them, then the end result will be nil” he observed.   

Agreeing with a suggestion,  Mr. Javadekar said, the budget for promotion and marketing  should be a  built in component of CFSI films’ overall budget.  The minister observed that though CFSI films win national and international awards, they fail to reach wider audience due to weak distribution “We need to explore all options, including outsourcing of distribution to make our films  reach far and wide” he added.

The Minister complimented CFSI for organizing the biennial Golden Elephant International Childrens’ Film Festival in Hyderabad, but said we need to take the childrens’ film festival culture to many other cities and states. He said his Ministry would lend support to organizing such childrens’ film festivals in all the states of the country.

Besides promoting films through conventional distribution channels, Mr. Prakash Javadekar also stressed on distributing them through informal rural communication channels with the help of Directorate of Field Publicity, supported by the Song & Drama Division. He said, for this purpose, various religious and community fairs, jatras etc could be targeted to reach out to maximum audience.

Meeting with film producers.

The Information & Broadcasting Minister also held a meeting with a group of film producers and television industry leaders in Mumbai.  Those participating in the meeting briefed the minister about various challenges being faced by the film industry and drew his attention to action required from his ministry.  Raghavendra Singh, Additional Secretary (Films), Ministry of Information & Broadcasting was also present in the meeting coordinated by Shaina N C. and attended by Dalip Tahil, Durga Jasraj, Manish Goswami, Raveen Kohli among others.