The demand for India’s cultural offerings around the world is being attributed to its economic boom and individual initiative.
NEW DELHI: India is back in the reckoning on the global cultural map with its cuisines and festivals proving to be a rage in various countries.
The demand for Indian culture has been revisited with India’s economic boom and individual initiative. “The Indian diaspora being spread all across the globe has also sparked off an interest in the country. Of course, Indian art has discovered a huge economic potential and entered the market in a big way. To add to that, individuals are taking a huge interest in promoting India and not relying on the government,” analyses O P Jain, patron, INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage).
Already an exhibition of the ancient Gupta art is travelling to France in the near future, while the ongoing India festival in Brussels has seen participating artists travelling all over Europe in response to a renewed demand for Indian artists and Indian culture. The Frankfurt book fair also had India as the guest of honour this time.
Pawan Verma, the director general of Indian Council for Cultural Research (ICCR) says, “The world is our stage. We now have a well-defined vision of our cultural policy with the foreign office. And this is now just a unilateral movement.”
The ICCR is gearing up for the ‘Year Of Friendship’ to be celebrated in Japan.
“What is happening is related to a concrete demand and a new interest in the civilisational strength of India. Earlier, there was an interest in antiquity but today it is to see how that past links up with the present and the future,” says Verma.
Verma adds that not only is there a palpable Indian blitzkrieg being felt across Europe, America and other parts of the world, even the government is now taking it cultural role rather seriously. “We are also allowing aggressive interaction with other countries - For instance we are looking at celebrating the Africa week next and also hosting an Italian opera in Delhi and Mumbai,” he added.
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