Amongst the first Indian film makers to introduce corporatisation in Bollywood, Mukta Arts Chairman Subhash Ghai in his keynote address at NASSCOM Animation & Gaming 2007 stressed upon the importance of media education and the need for creating thinkers, story tellers and film makers.
“We have made great progress in IT, but I am sorry to say, that when I visit San Fransisco I see that most of us Indians are job doers not thinkers. Let’s not just look at today, let’s look at what we want to be in 2015 or 2020” shared Ghai, adding, “The approach is educating the young generation first. I want to scale to producing 9 movies a year, how can I do that? I want to make 6 animation films a yeat, how can I do that? Whom do I contact? MBAs, Finance Guys, Techies? No. I need thinkers, story writers and film makers”
“I am putting a thrust on education and I want to push our young generation to pursue professional excellenceIt is very important that we produce artists. ” he added.
Reminiscising about his own experience, Ghai shared that when he told his parents about his desire to join the movies, his father warned him that the movies was not a job but a metter of luck. He advised him to join film school, to explore and understand what he wanted to specialise in, and then join the movies. “And trust me that those two years of FTII stand good to me today also” remarked Ghai.
Emphasising once again on the need for having more education focused on story telling and film making, Ghai pointed out that a lot of hit shows on television in India were International formats licensed and then localised. “We need to see a lot more originality in our entertainment content, we should be licensors of formats and content rather than licensees” he concluded.