In recent years, India has increasingly become a favored destination for a host of foreign companies and educational institutions. Now, the New York Film Academy (NYFA), a leading film education institute, is setting up its first state-of-the-art South Asian campus in Greater Noida near New Delhi. The academy is set to open in January and will offer the same courses as the New York campus.
Animation in India
According to NYFA, professors from the school’s New York and Los Angeles campuses will travel to the India site on a rotating basis to teach for at least one year. Industry observers say the school will fill a training void in the country. According to the report, “Film Industry in India: New Horizons,” by Ernst & Young and the LA-India Film Council, “India currently has a dearth of institutes that impart formal training and education in film and creative technologies. At the grassroots level, there is a need to formally train technicians in the industry, who [at present] are largely self-trained.”
Ashesh Jani, a partner at consulting firm Deloitte Haskins & Sells, notes that for Hollywood, India is an important market. “The key indicators of this are the [recent] collaborations and purchase of stakes by Hollywood studios in Indian companies,” he says. “There is also a surge of Hollywood films that are being dubbed in several Indian languages and are even forming part of the major content on reputed television channels. In the animation world, too, the Hollywood studios have made it a point to release the latest films promptly in [India.]”
Pointing to specialized Indian firms catering to the demands of various Hollywood studios in the fields of production, post production and distribution, Jani adds that India’s media and entertainment industry, which was earlier viewed as being fragmented and dispersed, has reinvented itself in the areas of technology, planning and governance. This, in turn, has made multinationals more interested in forging relationships with them.
Indian post-production company Prime Focus, for instance, worked on 200 visual effects for James Cameron’s blockbuster movie Avatar. India Take One Productions has prestigious projects such as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Eat Pray Love, Life of Pi, and Mission Impossible 4 – Ghost Protocol in its portfolio. DreamWorks Studios is funded among others by Reliance BIG Entertainment. Earlier this year, Walt Disney acquired a controlling stake in India’s UTV. The Motion Picture Association of America has a wholly owned Indian subsidiary. Viacom18 Motion Pictures, a part of the Viacom18 Group, has a partnership with Paramount Pictures International to distribute the latter’s theatrical releases in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
According to a recent report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and PwC titled “India Entertainment and Media Outlook 2012,” the industry is projected to grow from $1,764 million today to $2,829 million in 2016. The Indian box office is among the fastest growing markets in the world, next only to China among markets greater than $276 million and is expected to surpass the U.K. market to become the fifth largest market in the world by 2016.
With over 1,000 films being produced every year in India in more than 20 languages, the Indian film industry is one of the biggest in the world. However, there is a lot of scope for growth. According to the CII-PwC report, an Indian on an average watches only 1.7 films in a year, as compared to an average of over four films a year in the U.S.
Questions
What is the New York Film Academy, and what is its latest global move? Why is this significant?
Why are multinationals more interested in forging relationships with Indian firms catering to the demands of various Hollywood studios in the fields of production, post production and distribution?
What suggests that the Indian film industry is growing?
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Hmm 100% true.
Bollywood is great
It does not appear this is the correct article for staffing. There is no mention of hiring or recruiting employees to the business at all. The article addresses networking and negotiating with clientele, not employees.
I like the lesson plan. Send me the chart for the pricing activity.
I completely agree as it is a very important thing to look at the society as well as the people who might be affected in some way depending on the business. If the company’s work ethics is not up to the mark the employees will be affected as well as the society as the company may not care for the environment and pollute the society leading to harmful effects. Profit should also be a main motive as it gets you to want more money thus eventually leading to expansion and increase in the total revenue.
Thank you, Diana, for such a compelling story. Though your article was published in 2012, your analysis of Bollywood’s growth and economic ties with American cinema rings true today. As a first-generation Indian American, your reporting resonates with me; I was raised with Bollywood and have seen its connection with American media grow in the past decade. I’d like to add to your characterization of Bollywood as an economic powerhouse: it’s also a cultural one, diversifying Indian media and connecting the nation to first-generation Americans like me.
Reading your article, Indian and American media undoubtedly have strong economic ties, likely caused by Bollywood’s unification and million-dollar expected projections incentivizing American involvement in the early to mid-2010s. I feel as if I witnessed this shift firsthand.
During my early childhood, there seemed to be a chasm between my skin color and my inner world. I’d never been connected to my Indian roots growing up in America and didn’t identify with either country– until my parents introduced me to Bollywood. Ever since, I was hooked. Watching my country’s stories made me feel represented and seen in a way I never had before. Bollywood became an integral part of my cultural identity.
Your article’s portrayal of Indian cinema as a growing force couldn’t be more accurate. Let me offer my 2024 perspective as a witness of Bollywood’s growth. I remember watching the Tollywood film RRR win the Best Original Song category at both the Golden Globe and Academy Awards in 2023, being the first Indian film to do so and sparking conversations about media’s globalization and its impact on diversity in media, a feat I never would’ve thought possible in 2015.
Such growth not only urges global diversity in film but also diversity within Bollywood itself. I will never forget sitting in theaters to watch the film Kantara and feeling shocked when I could understand the protagonist.
Bollywood historically excludes South Indians like myself due to colorism intimately embedded in India’s colonial history. As I watched more Bollywood, I began to notice the erasure of my language, people, and skin color, making me feel ostracized by the industry supposed to represent me– until Kantara’s release.
Kantara became the first Kannada language film to reach $1 million at the North American box office, spurring another Kannada franchise, KGF, which became one of the highest-grossing Indian franchises worldwide (and one of my family’s favorites!). As the economic link between Bollywood and Hollywood grows, so does the representation of marginalized South Indian groups like mine.
Along with its history of colorism, India holds other cultural stigmas that are slowly being addressed through film. For instance, in 2023, the film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani tackled the taboo topics of gender roles and family dynamics, which resonated with global audiences. Its success highlighted Bollywood’s evolution, breaking tradition and promoting inclusivity in Indian society. Such cultural exchange between Bollywood and Hollywood has not only bolstered economic ties but also led to significant social changes within Indian cinema.
Bollywood and Hollywood’s connection is not only economic but also cultural. As a first-generation Indian American growing up with Bollywood, I witnessed Bollywood’s immense evolution resulting from its interactions with American cinema. Bollywood is one of my greatest connections to my motherland, and I will always cherish it for connecting me to my history.
Thank you.