Bollywood in Latino land

India is making an all-out attempt to boost the export potential of films in the international market and is exploring non-traditional markets like Latin America, China and the Scandinavian nations. “This can be achieved by exhibiting our films in other countries through participation in their film markets,” said the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry’s Outcome Budget document of 2009-10.

The directorate of film festivals has listed its goal in as “spreading the rich and diverse Indian culture throughout the world and increase the visibility of Indian cinema abroad”. It aims to organise 15 film festivals under the cultural exchange programmes in India and abroad, and take Indian films to 35 foreign film festivals — from Las Vegas to Berlin and Cannes.

The National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) wants to export Indian films for distribution across various channels of exhibition, identify partners for international co-production, promote India as a shooting destination and import films for Indian markets. But since NFDC has been reporting losses, it has been referred to the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE).

Meanwhile, with competition in the direct-to-home (DTH)  space, Prasar Bharati plans to increase the number of channels from 50 to 198. As against free-to-air channels, Prasar Bharati’s DTH platform — DD Direct Plus — will accommodate 144 pay channels, four high definition channels and 50 radio channels with PPP models.