AT THE recently concluded WAVES event in early May in Mumbai, held to showcase India’s creator economy to the world, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored how the boom in the space in India can help power the country’s GDP to the next level. The Summit was a gathering of a cross-section of some of the biggest names in the world of media and entertainment. The Prime Minister said India was emerging as a hub of creativity, whether it is film production, visual effects, gaming, fashion or digital content. PM Modi’s presence at the Summit and the focus on the entertainment sector is evidence of how seriously the government now views it as an important engine of growth. And with good reason.

India’s media and entertainment sector stood at a hefty ₹2.5 lakh crore in size last year, and there is frenetic activity in the creator economy. From film production to gaming, Indian companies, startups, and production houses are busy drawing up big plans for growth. And the world is their playing field now. This Entertainment Special issue, helmed by Ajita Shashidhar, takes stock of various segments of the sector at a time when India’s soft power is being showcased across the world—from the Oscars to Cannes.

Equally, global giants like Netflix, Amazon, and Sony, are vying for a piece of the lucrative streaming pie even as Reliance’s JioHotstar is emerging as a major force to reckon with following the Jio-Disney merger. On the film production side, there is the Reliance-owned Jio Studios that has ambitious plans to take Indian content global, and the Aditya Birla Group’s Applause Entertainment, which is also making edgy content. Jio Studios’s Jyoti Deshpande tells us she has plans to tie up with foreign studios and take her content to global audiences. “We don’t necessarily want their money. We want their distribution muscle,” she says.

But even as there’s excitement, there are challenges in some pockets. While the gaming sector is struggling under the impact of heavy taxation, this is a time for introspection in the Hindi film industry. With box office collections turning volatile and unpredictable, new theatrical releases are no longer a guarantee of good returns for producers. Exhibitors are turning to re-releases of older films to ensure footfalls and keep the screens occupied, with several movies making their comeback to the big screen in recent times.

And even as Bollywood battles the tsunami of big-budget spectacles from the South that have captured the imagination of the country, for other language filmmakers in Bengali, Punjabi, and Bhojpuri, it’s a time for reinvention and revival as they search for the perfect formula for success. There’s lots to take away from these stories, but there’s one common thread: India’s creator economy is writing out a whole new script.

Meanwhile, as the Narendra Modi government completes the first year of its third term in office, Ashutosh Kumar takes a look at the achievements and initiatives of Year One, and how the government is taking forward its agenda for growth with a firm eye on achieving developed nation status. Elsewhere, we also get you a conversation with Pieter Elbers, the go-getting chief executive of IndiGo, where he tells us his plans of taking the
airline international, a process that is gathering serious momentum. Elbers makes a valid point: a country of India’s size needs an airline industry of global heft.