India will soon host a Global Film Summit on the lines of World Economic Fourm at Davos following an idea floated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he inaugurated the National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai last week.

The idea is to strengthen India’s film industry and expand its global footprint with icons of the film fraternity across the world focusing on film economics and technology.

Addressing the film fraternity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for the possibility of a global film summit similar to World Economic Forum in Davos. He said world should get exposure to Indian film industry that employs lakhs of people.

Media and Entertainment Industry is recognised as one of the champion sectors by the Government of India.

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has been facilitating India’s participation in global film markets in partnerships with Industry bodies. In recent time, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has extended support to the Media and Entertainment Industry in ease of doing business and through regulatory and policy interventions.

Prime Minister Modi’s interaction with the film industry has been stepped up in the last couple of months and he has already met representatives from Bollywood on two occasions. Industry leaders from other movie making centres (South Indian film fraternity) are waiting for an opportunity to interact with the Prime Minister.

In his recent address to the film industry Prime Minister Modi praised the popularity of Indian cinema overseas and said that it contributes to the “soft power” of the country. “Our films are popular outside the country,” Modi said, adding that he met some world leaders who could recite entire lyrics of Indian songs though they did not know the language.

Elucidating the impact of Indian Cinema, the PM shared his experiences of interaction with world leaders. He talked about the Prime Minister of Israel knowing the song Ichak Dana by-heart without knowing the language and about school kids performing in South Korea on the song Haathi Mere Saathi. He spoke about the niche being carved by Indian TV serials, stating that there would hardly be any family in Afghanistan who would not have heard about Kyuki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu thi and also mentioned about the love that Vietnamese PM’s wife has for the TV serial Ramayan. All these facets have played an important role in projection of India’s soft power across the globe.

That’s the influence of Indian cinema and its increasing global footprint. It is a fact that a warm up to any bilateral discussion or any business meeting with Indian corporates begins with an Indian film narrative.