The might of Indian media and entertainment industry

Sheetal Patel - Televisionpoint.com | Mumbai
The Indian Media and Entertainment industry is poised to enter a golden era. One of the largest markets in the world, the industry is seeing strong growth and has the potential to garner $ 200 billion by 2015. The opening of the film industry to foreign investment coupled with the granting of industry status to this segment has had a favorable impact, leading to many global production units entering the country.

For example, Walt Disney has partnered with Yash Raj Films to make animated movies, the Warner Group is funding the Sippys' film projects,Viacom has joint-ventured with the TV 18 group to form Viacom-18, and Sony Pictures Entertainment has co-produced Saawariya with SLB Films.

The nation's multiplex industry is all set for an unprecedented boom buoyed by positive regulatory changes and booming consumerism. Multiplexes or megaplexes have been instrumental in contributing 28 per cent of the total theatrical sales for the film industry according to a report by Systematix Institutional Research. Industry experts estimate that top six multiplex chains have plans of 300-500 screens each by 2010.

Welcome, to the vibrant world of mass communications. An education in mass communications offers a cornucopia of avenues to today's generation.This field broadly comprises of journalism, electronic media, advertising, filmmaking and photo communications. Let's review some of these.

Mass communications is a vast field covering many areas under it. Some of these are discussed under the below mentioned headings.The course itself covers various disciplines of communication such as Photography, Advertising, Mass Communication, Journalism, Animation, Radio Transmission,Visual Communication, Performing Arts, etc. So the job opportunities exist in all these above mentioned fields as well as in marketing and for image building of companies, personalities, NGOs, etc.

Journalism
In 1999, the intrepid Barkha Dutt trail blazed her way through the annals of journalistic history, giving us a bullet by bullet account of the infamous Kargil War. Her fearless reporting whipped us into patriotic fervour and transported us into a vortex of flying shrapnel. Indian television journalism had truly arrived. Fast forward to 2001, and our hero was, tehelka.com. People furiously clicked away on their mouses as the biggest undercover reportage of the year unfolded.

We marveled at how an inanimate website played a huge role in exposing the underbelly of corruption in the Indian defence – Cyber journalism was on the prowl. With the entry of cable, satellite communications and Internet, the opportunities in Journalism have just exploded. Besides the traditional daily news reporting, a wide spectrum of subjects is covered by the media. From war to fashion to page three parties, there is a topic to satisfy the latent scribe in each one of us. Good verbal ability, social attributes and a curious bend of mind are some of the important traits required in this profession.

Advertising
From traditional copy writing, brand building, media planning and client servicing, this field today is buzzing with innovative jobs in internet marketing, image management, media research, graphic design, etc. How much fun are the advertisements of today; a bit of histrionics and sales sky rocket. It is a fast paced industry which influences the tastes and lifestyles of people. Since advertising is a service industry, the reputation of the ad agency depends on the effective work being done and campaigns released from time to time. This makes the job even more challenging.

Public Relations
Once the simple operation of publicity, has today, emerged as an important management function. Public Relations, as the name suggests, is used to generate and portray a positive image of an organisation or a professional by various means. Business houses, schools, universities, hospitals, government institutions, etc. engage public relations personnel and agencies to cast and present their image, objectives and policies in the best possible light.

For somebody to become a successful public relation consultant, it is imperative to have a liking to meet people along with excellent communication skills, the ability to interact with, convince people and build a rapport is important. The other traits include quick decision making abilities and good organisational skills.

Film Making
Coming to film making, one immediately thinks of the Gen X brigade of Karan Johar and his cronies in Bollywood today.They truly embody excitement, ideas, innovation, professionalism and a can-do-it attitude that this industry really needed. Indian films, nowadays, are avidly watched not only by Indians but also by a large non-Indian international community. Currently, this is a much desired career for many youth who are willing to take risks, have a vision and are professional minded.

A program in mass communications can prepare you for jobs in film editing, direction, audio-visual production, documentary film making and many other areas.The film industry is a lucrative career option and is witnessing an influx of many bright and capable youngsters. All these industries have witnessed a rapid entry of MNCs, making today's job scene very happening.This industry, which was worth US$ 2.12 billion in 2006, is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 16 per cent to US$ 4.42 billion by 2011.