Hello, 2018.

A new year brings new resolutions, new ideas, new hope, new wishes, new everything. And we can thank Pope Gregory XIII (According to Wikipedia) for uniting different countries with different ideologies, and religions under one umbrella of time. Come to think of it, he had a more profound effect of uniting people than any of the Gods and Prophets. The only thing constant around the world, the only thing all countries agree on is the fact that we all follow the convention of a new beginning, a reset every 365 (or 366) days.

Now, this is a very weird beginning to the topic that I am writing about. What I want to talk about is a potential for the rise of the Indie scene, especially with the movie and tv series scene. With the advent of the streaming platform, particularly giants like Netflix and Amazon, and also YouTube to some extent who are willing to invest in more off-beat and mature content that none of the conventional Indian channels are willing to touch due to our very strict and effective Censor Board that is doing such a great job to ensure that our kids are not addicted to the idiot box for their daily dose of profanity, nudity, and sexuality, and instead stick to the internet, so that they improve their typing skills to provide the much needed IT support to the world, and at the same time, we are not corrupted by the Western ideals, and continue destroying their economy through our Gigabytes of illegally downloaded series and movies, while supporting home-grown talents like Ekta Kapoor, and totally realistic scenarios like palatial homes, huge, happy joint families and conspiring people that prepare us for politics at the workplace, homes or Facebook pages, and of course, the Indian version of the Discovery Channel, National Geographic and Food Channel, all rolled into one-MTV India Roadies.

Sarcasm was never my strong suit. So, I will just move on to the positives. Indian Stand Up Comedy has really shot off the roof. A lot of original content is appearing in web-based formats. We have a lot more off-beat movies becoming commercial successes, and that is important because producers produce movies to make money, not make a statement. US has Friends, UK the Premier League, China has the movie based on the amalgamation of the 2 most popular activities of the 2 biggest economies of the world- Kung Fu Yoga (To clarify, I am talking about China and the US), and I think 2018 is the year India will have something to offer to the world.

Being on the right side of 30 and with absolutely no potential (or intention) of creating the future generation, I do feel a responsibility to ensure they have an easier access to luxuries and content that my generation had to struggle to get. Of course, with the internet as a common medium, it is so much simpler now to introduce them to such content-books, music, movies, art, languages, culture, etc. from all over the world. But I also feel a moral responsibility to ensure that they have a legacy to be proud of. Not a legacy that is based on mythology and religion and all the history lessons, but a more contemporary one. And movies and tv is a big part of this legacy. And content that transcends regional differences while acknowledging them

The success of web-content has proved that we are ready to level up, to move forward and that we are hungry for it. I also think there is a huge potential for regional cinema and Indie movies. In this context, Netflix-USA has a rich library of Indian regional movies. With multiple audio tracks, subtitles, and direct to stream possibility, I think 2018 is the year we will really let the creative juices flow and create some great content. So my new year resolution is to support this potential renaissance in any way that I can. I hope it will help.