Dharmendra Tewari
Creativity has no boundaries. From time immemorial, the creators have been shaping this world. The great Creative ideas, which shaped us as “modern human beings”, across all civilizations, in our long evolutionary journey from the dark ages, pushed creative vision of earlier generations with an aim to improve their future i.e. “Our Present Life”. As we, Baby boomers to GenZ, enjoy the benefits of progress in the 21st century, it is the creativity of our ancestors that made human life better for us in the modern times. Thus, identifying the creators, giving them mentorship, sharing state of the art knowhow, best global practices and by providing access to market for their creative work, becomes crucial for the policy makers in all generations.
In modern internet era, by unleashing the creative potential of the world, India is precisely riding on WAVES of creativity. New Delhi aims to unite the world politically as a “Creative Soft Power” promoting the global harmony among comity of nations. At the same time at working level of Media & entertainment industry our policy makers are “Connecting the Creators” through WAVES 2025 by “Connecting Countries. Be it Indian brand of Yoga & Ayurveda from ancient times or “Entertaining” music of Bollywood in the last 100 years since talkies came into being, our creators have been shaping the world democratising the knowledge for creators of all generations. Thus WAVES, the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit, happening in Mumbai from 1st to 4th May is a great opportunity for creators from across the globe to showcase their talent & truly be a part of creative journey, earn name & fame for their creativity. Be it films, music, games, comics or some tech innovation in making the education & healthcare more affordable, WAVES offers to the creators a “Wholesome Opportunity” to remain ahead by developing tools having potential to shape the media and entertainment industry.
Efforts of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in identifying creative talent pool is bringing results. More than “750 Shortlisted Creators” from across the world filtered through 32 ‘Create in India, Create for the World’ Challenges, will now showcase their work in Mumbai’s Jio Convention Centre. They are not only creators but inventors in true sense. Some of the creators identified by government of India through a holistic approach of jury-based selection by industry experts & the market professionals have already come up with a great work that has a scalable potential to change our life by innovative means.
Next time when you go to cellular Jail in Port Blair as a tourist you will have a better experience to interact with freedom fighter Veer Savarkar. Simply because a creative firm used their Xtended Reality(XR) talent to make it possible. Under the aegis of WAVES challenge, Creators want to use the platform of WAVES to reach out to the other historical sites in India or abroad displaying their XR & Virtual Reality, VR skills while narrating historical stories & the folklores. Another team of creators have used VR to give a real-world commerce feeling in their online purchase. Another tech-driven creative work, PosePerfect is an effort to correct the yogic postures of fitness freaks by using the XR as an Artificially Intelligent solution to imperfect poses of Yoga practitioners, a real time problem. With the right support and mentorship, youth creativity can position India as a global content hub, enhance governance, and create jobs, realising the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Create in India, Create for the World’ through WAVES.
Coders from the remote corners of India are also benefiting from CIC challenges under WAVES. A young 16-year-old boy from Kashmir has started giving shape to his dreams of making his own startup, thanks to the acknowledgement of his coding skills on the platform of WAVES. It is not just one story of a youth from Kashmir but there are many youths across the world who are trying their fate by showcasing their skills on the talent hunt forum, the CreatoSphere of WAVES. As the confluence of technology with artistic creation is at its peak, media & entertainment sector through its soft power has an immense potential to lead the way making India as a top global content creation hub in the times to come.
Given rich heritage of storytelling and prowess in coding, we are well positioned to use our skills in making creation not only traditionally ethnic but also ethical at a time, when telling the truth is so important to democratise traditional knowledge. The WAVES is all set to project before the world how creators sharpened the human understanding in all generations. It is therefore imperative to judge the creative talent in all the formats of creativity, be it reel making or tell the truth hackathon. Top Comic makers & their creative comic animation is already making creatives WAVES in the media. In the world of classical Music, Dilli Gharana’s talent hunt show on Doordarshan Wah Ustad is also reviving the traditional formats of creativity.
Further, if our modern GenZ creators play piano or any other musical instrument on their mobile app, Electronic Dance and Music & DJing Competition (EDM) is also tapping the new era talented creators. India has already reached out to about 160 nations across the world to join and see for themselves global creative talent identified by top creators of the world during the Grand Finale of season 1 of Create in India Challenges next month.
The first WAVES Summit is a milestone event for the Media & Entertainment (M&E) sector. This historic summit will bring together global leaders, media professionals, artists, policymakers, and industry stakeholders. Summit seeks to help India become the content hub of the world. With the advent of technology in creative space, some of the key challenges that have arisen are misuse of Artificial intelligence, Deepfakes in images, audio & unregulated streaming revolutions, intellectual property right violations, misinformation menace and concerns on legacy media sustainability. As the first-ever event of its kind, WAVES 2025 will deliberate these issues & come up with solutions that promote cultural diversity, innovation, and equitable access to media platforms. WAVES 2025 is not just a summit; it is a vision for a more connected, creative, and collaborative world.
(The writer is ADG, PIB, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting)
