Latest news with #WorldAudioVisualEntertainmentSummit
NDTV
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Kajal Aggarwal To Play Mandodari In Ranbir Kapoor's Ramayana: Report
New Delhi: Kajal Aggarwal has reportedly been cast in Nitesh Tiwari's ambitious Ramayana. The film, led by Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, will be released in two parts – scheduled for 2026 and 2027 respectively. According to a report by India Today, Kajal will portray Mandodari, the wife of Ravana, who will be played by Yash. A source close to the project shared, 'The role of Mandodari in Ramayana is incredibly crucial. Therefore, it was imperative for the makers to cast a well-established leading actress who could fully embody the complexities and significance of Ravana's wife, opposite Yash.' The insider further added, 'The makers sought an actress with a strong presence across languages. While many actresses were considered, including those from Bollywood, Kajal Aggarwal's celebrated name in both the North and the South made her the ideal choice.' Earlier this month, Ramayana producer Namit Malhotra shared an exciting update about the film's global vision. At the World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit, he revealed that the makers plan to 'localise' the film in multiple languages while preserving the authenticity of the characters. Namit Malhotra said, "The way we want to go about it is to really make it feel local to people in the world. Again, with the use of some technology, we are trying to make sure that we will be able to localize the film in languages with performance, which means that it should play in English with lip sync without subtitles or dubbed versions, because it should be in English. It should be in Spanish; it should be in Japanese in Japan." The producer acknowledged that reaching a wider audience is a tough task, as not many South Indian films manage to click in the North, and vice versa. Connecting across different regions and languages remains a major challenge, but the goal is to bridge this gap and make the film relatable to audiences everywhere. Ramayana features Sai Pallavi in the role of Goddess Sita. Lara Dutta, Sunny Deol and Indira Krishna are also part of the project.
India Today
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Making a big splash
When Kushagra Tiwari, 21, a filmmaking graduate based in Ghaziabad, boarded a plane for the first time to attend the World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit (WAVES) from May 1-4 in Mumbai, he had little idea that he was going to come back with memories of one of the most defining experiences in his life. Receiving the Create in India Challenge (CIC) award in the Travel India category of reel-making, Tiwari, a content creator and aspiring actor, was euphoric and told Aamir Khan, from whom he received the award, that five years down the line, they would work together in a film. 'I manifested it for myself,' says an elated Tiwari. Aamir was impressed enough with the young man's confidence to ask him his name and say that he'd remember his prophecy. 'What I most like about the CIC awards was there was no criteria for how many followers you have on social media; it's all about the content,' says Tiwari. 'I have just 4,500 followers, but my confidence has soared.' What the award has also done is convince his parents, who were clueless about his work and concerned about his future, that their son is alright. 'Now they don't ask questions,' says Tiwari.
Mint
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
WAVES 2025: I missed it, but not too much
I skipped the World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025, organised by the Union ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) and Maharashtra government, in Mumbai last week. Not because I wasn't interested, but because crowds have now started to unnerve me in ways I didn't expect. Part of it could be a post-pandemic rewiring—spaces that once felt electric now feel claustrophobic. But the other part is harder to name: a quiet exhaustion that comes from dealing with online mobs. When you have spent significant time being dogpiled in digital spaces, offline crowds begin to carry that same strange weight. You start scanning for threats, not connections. Even as I sat out the first edition of this four-day summit connecting the Indian media and entertainment industry with the global who's who in the space, at the Jio World Convention Centre in BKC, it unfolded across my feed and in WhatsApp chats—enough to have me oscillating between quiet relief and sharp FOMO. There was relief, especially at missing the chaos of pass distribution. Apparently, Day 0 was a logistical mess. Attendees queued for hours to collect the passes they had bought online, only to be sent in circles by unsure volunteers. Some rummaged through heaps of badges like passengers at a lost luggage counter. Then came the FOMO—the professional kind. I started hearing about an incredible confluence of public policy professionals from across the media and entertainment space. Many had gathered to engage with representatives from the I&B ministry and the Maharashtra government and discuss the policy issues they are grappling with. The conversation between Instagram head Adam Mosseri and actor Shraddha Kapoor on trends and virality and how Gen Z consumes content on Day 2 was widely discussed for falling short of audience expectations. A delegate remarked it felt like a poorly matched influencer collab. Another shared a story about a young creator, brimming with hustle, who managed to chase Mosseri between sessions and squeeze in a quick interview, asking pointed questions about content creation and Instagram's new 'Edit' app. That made me wish I'd been there too, and maybe asked questions about algorithmic opacity, shadow banning, content moderation, or Meta's mounting antitrust woes. A few delegates spoke highly of Aamir Khan's masterclass on the art of acting on Day 3, calling it open, immersive and reflective. He took multiple audience questions and spoke candidly about the future of filmmaking and showbiz in an age shaped by metrics and machines. Overall, the summit seemed to mirror the current internet: overwhelming, overstimulated and near-impossible to keep up with. The first two days were packed with overlapping sessions. Attendees were spoilt for choice. Many drifted between sessions, some leaving within 10-15 minutes, just long enough to post a photo or network. The last two days were markedly quieter—fewer celebrities, fewer footfalls, but sharp conversations still, like the one between Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos and actor Saif Ali Khan on creating content for streaming platforms for the new India.
The Hindu
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
WAVES summit x Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro
By the third day of WAVES (World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit), the recent sarkari symposium held in Mumbai, I was tuckered out. Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the inaugural address; thenceforth, sessions upon sessions — about cultural soft power, about innovation and the 'orange economy', about how Netflix created 20,000 jobs through its local productions in India. Wandering around the vast Jio World Convention Centre in BKC, what caught my attention was a much simpler item on the agenda: a film poster-making competition. Arranged on easels, outside one of the venues, were 10 hand-drawn paintings. The competition was co-organised by the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) and ImageNation, a Delhi-based art group specialising in graffiti and murals. In the age of generative AI and the off-putting Studio Ghibli trend, the young participants — hailing from various art and film institutes of India — were given three hours in which to finish their paintings. But what delighted me most was the choice of film they were tossed: Kundan Shah's corrosive political satire Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. The irony was unmissable. A comic skewering of bureaucracy and crony capitalism from the early 1980s, celebrated, over four decades later, at the heart of corporate Mumbai. The winning entry — a sly evocation of this dystopian imbalance — was by Drishya Ashok, a 25-year-old art direction student from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). Born in Palakkad but brought up in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, Ashok studied architecture and later assisted in the art departments of the Tamil films Demonte Colony (2015) and Naane Varuvean (2022). She watched Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro for the first time in preparation for the competition — 'It's so political and timeless!' The third eye In Shah's endlessly entertaining classic, two foppish but penniless still photographers, played by Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani, stumble upon evidence of a political murder. Their slapstick sleuthing unfolds against the backdrop of a transforming Bombay, the concrete wilderness taking root. In Ashok's painting, an analogue Pentax camera peers down from a flyover, keenly surveying a city bent out of shape. Seen from a distance, the camera almost resembles a surveillance drone. 'In film school, we are taught that the camera is the third eye,' she says. 'It can manipulate you, provoke you. Currently, surveillance is happening everywhere through CCTV... and in the age of AI, the camera can even control itself. It can choose what to watch and where to watch.' While many of the other entries interpreted the film literally, it is this forbidding retrofuturistic quality to Drishya's painting that puts it in conversation with present times. Ashok lists Blade Runner, Solaris, Stalker and Metropolis as some of her favourite sci-fi works. Her regard for the genre isn't out of place with Shah's legacy. In his book, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro: Seriously Funny since 1983, Jai Arjun Singh reports that the filmmaker had written an unfilmed script in the late 70s called A Detective Story, which combined elements of 'psychological thriller, social commentary and science fiction'. The plot centred on a dangerous 'wonder drug' that eliminates hunger. I reached out to Binod Pradhan, the cinematographer of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, for a comment on Ashok's painting. 'The first thing that struck me was the unique font of the title Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. It went well with the rather dystopian world created by Drishya,' he shares. 'It's so modern, far away from the times we were in during the making of the film. The images look like [they are] from the film, but as if [they] were made in the modern world. The camera that smashed the bridge and the two characters hanging desperately onto celluloid film — as we wish we could in real life as filmmakers. That's a wonderfully thoughtful layer in the poster!'
Time of India
04-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
India's screen sector generated more than USD 61 billion in 2024: New MPA report
The film, television, and online video services industry in India generated a total economic contribution of USD 61.2 billion (INR 514K Cr) in 2024, demonstrating the vital importance of the screen sector to the economy, jobs, cultural exports, and India's soft power, according to a new report by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) in collaboration with Deloitte, launched at the inaugural World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in Mumbai. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The report also found that the industry supported a total of 2.64 million jobs in the country. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, MPA, and JioStar launched the industry economic impact report. The report was also supported by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), the Producers Guild of India (PGI), and Creative First. MPA Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin highlighted the vast benefit of the film and television industry to India's economy, the commitment of American studios to the Indian market, and the need for industry leaders and policymakers to work together to facilitate greater investment in India as a hub for creative content and storytelling. 'India is a critical global market for MPA members – and its dynamic film, television, and streaming industry is a powerful driver of jobs, cultural influence, and the country's overall creative economy,' Rivkin said. 'Our members are proud to invest in developing local stories that reflect the unmatched imagination of creators from every corner of India and sharing them with international audiences. With the right policies and continued investment, India can build an even stronger production ecosystem – one that rewards creativity, fuels innovation, and cements India's place as a global hub for media and entertainment,' Rivkin added. The MPA's report estimates that the direct impact of gross output of the screen sector in 2024 equated to USD 16.8 billion (INR 141K Cr), indicating that the industry had weathered the challenges of the pandemic and responded quickly to growing audience demand for films, drama, and sport—on big screens and small. Crucially, the research finds that the local industry will grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of six to seven percent over the next four years, reaching combined revenues of approximately USD 17.5 billion (INR 147K Cr) in FY 2029. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now It also projects that, with effective regulatory levers in place, the industry may witness a higher growth trajectory of nine to ten percent CAGR, equating to combined revenues of almost USD 20 billion (INR 165K Cr) in FY 2029. Penning the foreword to the report, Kevin Vaz, Chief Executive Officer, Entertainment, JioStar, and FICCI M&E Chair, considered the steps India should take to become as influential on the global stage as the United States or South Korea. 'To evolve, the next phase of storytelling must reflect the full breadth of India's cultural fabric, expanding our creative ecosystem to embrace voices, stories and talent from regions far beyond the traditional production hubs. Rather than relying solely on the metros, the industry must now channel its resources and ambition toward uncovering the rich creative potential in places as far and disparate as Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh or Ranchi in Jharkhand. The south has done this beautifully by rooting its narratives in regional authenticity while delivering cinematic excellence. They have created stories that resonate far beyond linguistic and geographic boundaries,' Kevin said in the foreword. Shibasish Sarkar, President of the Producers Guild of India, said,'The film and television industry could well become a flagship sector in India's global trade ambitions, as well as a beacon for India's culture, if all stakeholders work together to create the best possible environment for growth and continued innovation. In recent years, we've seen important developments in skills and training and the ability of Indian crews to deliver high-quality production and post-production. Progress on these areas will stand our industry in good stead as we build our capacity for higher levels of production.' The launch was followed by an MPA panel focused on India's aspirations to become a global force in film, television, and streaming, featuring Sanjay Jaju – Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), Justin Warbrooke – Head of Corporate Development, Disney, Kelly Day – VP International, Amazon MGM, Kaitlin Yarnall – Chief Storytelling Officer, National Geographic Society, and Urmila Venogopalan – President & Managing Director, MPA Asia Pacific – as moderator.
