Prominent names from the film industry like Aamir Khan, Rajkumar Hirani, Aanand L Rai, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Ritesh Sidhwani and Mahaveer Jain met Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi yesterday afternoon “in the wake of acknowledging and protecting the efforts, the Indian film fraternity has contributed towards the nation economically.”
“Filmmaker Ritesh Sidhwani presented the thought to the Prime Minister which was facilitated by Mahaveer Jain as they met Mr Narendra Modi at 4 pm on Tuesday afternoon. The filmmakers and actor Aamir Khan came together a night before (Monday night) to discuss the agenda for the meeting, met the Prime Minister on Tuesday and returned on Wednesday morning after an extremely positive meeting,” said an official statement by Khan and Excel Entertainment (owned by Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar).
A source close to the development said that the main motto was to discuss the day-to-day matters of the film industry. There are reports that the aim of the meeting might be the recent #MeToo movement against sexual harassment in the industry. But nothing of that sort has been revealed.
“Bollywood is one of the highest grossing industries of our nation and is also very influential globally. In order to discuss the status of the industry and the day-to-day issues faced by the people involved in the field, the producers, as well as Aamir Khan, took to the Prime Minister to discuss the same. It was a collaborative effort of all the people involved to come forward and seek solutions from the Prime Minister directly and address these issues,” said the source.
The source further added that the PM listened to the issues and highlighted the importance of the Indian film industry. “It turned out to be a very productive and lucrative meeting, Modi ji himself revealed the fact how in each of his global meetings with delegates from all over the world, Indian cinema is always discussed and appreciated in depth. He agreed to the fact that Bollywood movies have gained recognition and prominence internationally,” said the source.
The PM assured them of setting up a team to look into the matters. “Modi ji was very receptive throughout and has assured them that he will be working towards setting up a special team, appointing someone to look into the specifics of the industry and address them timely,” the source added.