Government keen on promoting children's films: Javadekar

Mumbai: The government is keen on promoting children's films by facilitating expansion of their reach, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar here said on Saturday.

The minister emphasised the need for production of good films for children that would contribute to their all round development.

Javadekar held a review meeting of Mumbai-media units of the ministry like NFDC (National Film Development Corporation), CFSI (Children's Film Society of India), Films Division and CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification).

The films produced by the CFSI needs to be promoted and marketed well, he said.

"If the films are made and we are not able to release them, then the end result will be nil. The budget for promotion and marketing should be a built in component of CFSI films' overall budget," he said.

Though CFSI films win national and international awards, they fail to reach wider audience due to weak distribution, an official release said, quoting the minister.

"We need to explore all options, including outsourcing of distribution to make our films reach far and wide," he said.

Javadekar appreciated CFSI for organising the biennial Golden Elephant International Children's Film Festival in Hyderabad.

The minister, however, said children's film festival culture is needed to be taken to other cities and states.

He said his Ministry would lend support to organising such film festivals in all the states across the country.

Besides promoting films through conventional distribution channels, Javadekar also stressed on distributing them through informal rural communication channels with the help of Directorate of Field Publicity, supported by the Song & Drama Division.

He said, for this purpose, various religious and community fairs, jatras etc could be targeted to reach out to maximum audience.

The minister also held a meeting with a group of film producers and television industry players in Mumbai.

The participants briefed Javdekar about various challenges being faced by the film industry and drew his attention towards action required from the I&B ministry.

Raghavendra Singh, Additional Secretary (Films), Ministry of Information & Broadcasting was also present in the meeting, coordinated by BJP leader Shaina N C.

Dalip Tahil, Durga Jasraj, Manish Goswami and R Kohli also attended the meeting.