Centre puts plan on merger of film, media units in public domain

Mona

Chandigarh, January 21

The Cabinet approved the merger of five film and media units — the Films Division, Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Archive of India, Children’s Film Society of India and National Film Development Corporation of India last month.

The move recommended by the Bimal Julka Committee has been met with mixed response. The panel headed by former I&B Secretary Bimal Julka had filmmakers TS Nagabharana, Shayama Prasad, AK Bir and Rahul Rawail as part of the seven-member committee.

The committee submitted its report in June 2021 about the merger of these five film and media units aiming at “convergence of activities, resources and better coordination”. The committee also suggested the new configuration to be under four broad verticals — Production, Festival, Heritage and Knowledge, and these verticals to be headed by professionals.

The move was met by opposition from filmmakers, including Naseeruddin Shah, Nandita Das and Anand Patwardhan demanding access to the report. On Thursday, the government put the Bimal Julka Committee recommendations in public domain. If the move is beneficial for the film fraternity, filmmaker Amitabha Singh says, “The government is in a better position to take a decision on what should or would benefit independent, small makers in India.”