NEW DELHI: Skill India, a programme that promises to revolutionise India’s employment scene, has found support from the film industry. Veteran actors and film makers have agreed to be part of PM’s pet initiative by giving training lectures and holding workshops at government institutes offering film making courses.

This happened last weekend, when a delegation of film personalities comprising actor Aamir Khan, writer Javed Akhtar and film makers Rajkumar Hirani, Ritesh Sidhwani, Sajid Nadiadwala, Mukesh Bhatt among others met the I & B minister Arun Jaitley to discuss issues related to certification of movies, taxes and others concerning the film industry.

The delegation has offered to do their bit for the PM’ pet project, ministry sources said. “To start with, they have agreed to collaborate with the government institutions offering film courses. They would be guest faculty with institutions such as Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata and Film and Television Institute of India, Pune,” a senior official said.The ministry has received support offers from 120 actors, film makers and technicians for the programme and is now chalking ..

The initiative is part of the larger plan of the I & B ministry to revamp the Films Division unit of the ministry to get more revenue and produce more quality content. It is expected that in the coming days, one umbrella organization will be created to monitor the working of all the institutes. Currently the ministry holds charge of organisations such as the directorate of Film Festivals, Films Division, Central Board of Film Certification, National Film Development Corporation and Children ..

According to officials, the delegation has also agreed to mentor people on various aspects of film making including acting, directing, script writing, photography, cinematography, camera handling, digital media among others. A senior official in the government said many in the delegation were of the opinion that a crucial part of cinema, story writing was being ignored in the grooming of young talent. “With people currently involved in the film industry guiding students, it will be easy for budd ..

Aamir Khan was among the many celebrities who had endorsed support to Modi’s Swachh Bharat drive and was was present even during its launch. These representatives of the film industry who met Jaitley have also raised concerns about stringent censorship processes that have crept into the system and discussed issues related to service and entertainment tax. The minister, said those who attended the meeting took note of the concerns of the film industry and mentioned that attempts were on to bring  ..

MP Javed Akhtar who was part of the delegation said the film industry has always been willing to cooperate with the government in its attempt to skill people to make better films. “Finance Minister Arun Jaitley listened to our concerns especially about the procedures of getting a film cleared. We need a streamlined, transparent process. He said he will look into that.”

Source : ET Bureau