Three-Day FICCI-FRAMES 2008 Opens in Mumbai

The Government does not favour the recommendations of the draft optical disk policy on combating piracy as the suggestions by industry would lead to the creation of a regime of inspectors that would go against the grain of the policy of liberalization.

This was stated here on Tuesday by Ms. Asha Swarup, Secretary, Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting while addressing the inaugural session of FICCI-FRAMES 2008.

Ms. Swarup, while acknowledging that the menace of piracy in the entertainment and media industry was huge, said the problem had to be tackled by closing the supply side gaps. A possible way, she said, was to release films and 'C' and 'D' class towns on digtial formats.

The Secretary noted the observations by Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP & President, FICCI; Mr. Yash Chopra, Chairman, FICCI Entertainment Committee & Yashraj Films Pvt. Ltd.; and Mr. Kunal Dasgupta, Co-Chairman, FICCI Entertainment Committee & CEO, Sony Entertainment Television. To the concern expressed on piracy and banning of films, she pointed out that it was unfortunate that recent films like 'Jodha Akbar' and 'Aaa Jaa Nach Le' have met with this fate after having been cleared by the Censor Board of India. "The I & B Ministry, in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, will see how best we can tackle the issue," she assured the delegates.