Latest news with #WorldAudioVisualEntertainmentSummit
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
3 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
MIB proposes amendments to TV ratings guidelines, inviting more agencies
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) proposed amendments to the policy guidelines for television (TV) rating agencies on Wednesday, which remove certain restrictive provisions for media houses, allowing more players in the TV ratings measurement segment, as per a release by the Press Information Bureau. 'The Ministry (MIB) has invited feedback from stakeholders and the general public within 30 days of the issuance of the draft. The proposed reforms aim to enable fair competition, generate more accurate and representative data, and ensure that the TRP system reflects the diverse and evolving media consumption habits of viewers across the country,' the release said. MIB has also modified clause 1.4 by replacing the earlier requirement that a company's Memorandum of Association (MoA) shall not include any activity like consultancy or advisory services with an easier-to-comply provision. Currently, BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) is the organisation that looks after TV viewership and releases television rating points (TRP). The issue arises as BARC does not track trends in connected TV (CTV) platforms, which have seen a rise in viewership in recent years. MIB's moves aim to democratise and modernise the television audience measurement ecosystem in India, the release stated. 'The proposed amendments aim to allow multiple agencies to foster healthy competition, bring in new technologies, and provide more reliable and representative data, especially for connected TV platforms. As viewing habits evolve, so must the way we measure them. The amendments will also enable more investments from broadcasters, advertisers, and other stakeholders to improve rating technology and infrastructure. With these reforms, India aims to build a more transparent, inclusive, and technology-driven TV rating ecosystem,' the release stated. In the digital era, consumers have various options to consume content through several mediums. This comes after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman, Anil Lahoti, had said that Trai has recommended revamping the audience measurement system to allow multiple agencies to offer more reliable data. He had also mentioned that this change would support better advertising pricing in the industry at the World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in May.
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!'
