The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) film festival commenced from January 27 to 31, 2023. Anurag Thakur, Information and Broadcasting Minister, addressed a lot of issues during the inaugural ceremony ranging from boycott Bollywood trends to the pertinent question regarding the ban of Pakistani artists post the Uri attack. Anurag Thakur also shared that Pakistan was invited too along with other nations but the country had refrained from participating.
On Saturday, the I and B minister explained in his statement, “See whenever there is a multinational tournament has happened we have included all those countries that are a part of the world. It’s their decision to attend or avoid. We have sent the invitation to all the members of SCO. If I talk about the members it’s a long list. It’s their decision to attend or avoid. We have sent the invitation to all the members of SCO. If I talk about the members it’s a long list.” When asked whether inviting Pakistan to the forum meant a ban on Pakistani artists has the scope of lifting in the future, Thakur said, “please, for now, let us keep it to the SCO festival only.”
Sharing his thoughts on the boycott trends, Anurag Thakur emphasised, “I will say two things on this, the Indian government has made central board of film certification and all films has to get an approval from that. After getting approval from CBFC then only a film releases in theatres. If any one has any objection they mail us and we discuss that with CBFC.”
He further added that as far as OTT platforms are concerned, there is a channel to address certain grievances as well. Thakur said, “As far as OTT is concerned, to avoid restrictions on creativity we opted for the self-certification mode. If anyone has any complaints then there are 3 steps i.e. Producer level, Association level and Intro departmental committee level. 55 percent of the issues get resolved at the first two levels. So I believe in a country like India where we want to grow our soft power, these types of discussion does impact us and the environment.”
He added, “But sometimes, just to vitiate the atmosphere, some people comment on something even before knowing about it fully. That causes problems. This should not happen.”
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