A change in government immediately triggers off speculation about a change or at least a variation in policy. In the case of entertainment, there is little danger of this happening, simply because we have no policy for the entertainment industry. All governments of India (including both the previous and the new) have always been content with trying to manipulate if not control the media.
So you have homilies about the sanctity of the printed word (read: monopolistic newspapers). Favoured journalists are rewarded for their loyalty with Rajya Sabha seats and other such goodies. Pompous editors constantly abuse the power of the pen to win favours for their grateful bosses who would not like their hegemony to be whittled away by competition.
In the recent past, successive governments and parliamentarians have been endlessly carrying on a shrill debate about legislation on broadcasting.
Ad hoc regulatory fiats have resulted in duds like the Prasar Bharati (a brainchild of the present information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy in his earlier stint at the ministry) and the conditional access system (CAS).
We have a thriving cable and satellite industry which till today on the ground remains largely primitive, dishonest and disorganised. We have an inconsistent uplinking policy. We are still unsure whether direct-to-home, broadband and other newer access technologies will be allowed and how.
The license permit raj continues in the musty corridors of Shastri Bhawan, albeit with some concessions. Turf battles between the telecom and the I&B ministries, with some meddling by a ragtag regulator, is keeping the much talked about convergence to the confines of seminar rooms.
In fact, the only significant contribution of the previous government has been the grant of industry status to films. Otherwise we still have the same bureaucratic wrangling on film festival venues, annual trips to Cannes and other picturesque locations to promote films and unfulfilled promises to reduce entertainment tax and end video piracy.
The previous ministers at least talked of the potential of the Indian entertainment industry. Unfortunately this talk hardly went beyond social hobnobbing and committees. For this you need ministers and officials who are passionate about Indian entertainment and not merely polemical.
The new minister unfortunately is far too obsessed only with television. Using archaic English, he is wont to proselytise at the switch of a camera. He has to realise that media and entertainment in the 21st century is much more than newspapers and news channels.
There is more to a media policy than moral policing. Since he also holds the culture portfolio, he must realise that he has to have a mind free of ideological bias. If the Bharatiya Janata Party saffronised these institutions, the Left too has a record of loading state cultural bodies with flag waving groupies.
In any case he needs to understand that media and entertainment is not just artistic expression but also a serious business. Films alone are among the largest employment generators in the country. The kind of goodwill which Bollywood has created for Brand India cannot be understated.
It is time that the honourable minister looks at some of the terminally ill institutions. The most hopelessly run Prasar Bharati, Films Division, Children's Film Society and National Film Development Corporation are periodically overhauled when their life cycle has virtually come to end. I am not saying that there is no scope for state patronage of the arts.
But what needs to be done is a complete rethink of the way ahead. It is no longer fashionable to talk of converting Doordarshan into a BBC-like organisation when BBC itself is struggling to re-invent itself.
There is a lot to be done in the media and entertainment space if there is a will. A comprehensive media and entertainment policy needs to be formulated. Instead of fearing cultural imperialism, we should aggressively market our entertainment products abroad.
Our films can truly capture a large chunk of the global market if the government provides a little more help than lip service. Co-production treaties, liberal audio-visual quotas under GATS are some items on the film agenda. Of course, perennial problems like censorship and copyright theft need to be addressed.
On the broadcast front, the government has to make up its mind on convergence. Instead of an ad hoc, piece meal approach to TV, we need a more holistic one that keeps in mind rapid evolving technologies.
At best all legislation dealing with access and delivery of content has to be technology agnostic. It is time that we stopped over regulating in some areas even as we under regulate in others.
Similarly radio broadcasting, especially FM, needs urgent attention and it is important that the Amit Mitra report is implemented without tinkering with it.
One will have to wait a few weeks to find out if this government is any different from previous ones in regard to media and entertainment. Whether it will rise above the rhetoric and create an environment where the industry will blossom in myriad hues is a moot point.
To be sure, broadcasting is important but other segments of the entertainment industry deserve attention. And let us not for a moment forget that the coalition allies, specially the Left and the DMK, will demand their pound of media flesh.
Meanwhile, the actors brigade in Parliament can always sink its political differences and become a ginger group for the entertainment industry.Who knows what happens in showbiz and politics?
(Amit Khanna is chairman of Reliance Entertainment. The views expressed here are his own).
