Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday, while lauding the streaming platforms’ contribution in bringing stories from India to the world, urged Netflix to increase local productions that will help India become a major content and post-production hub.

Speaking on Indian stories that inspire humanity and a long-term collaboration with streamer Netflix, Thakur said, “Netflix will be producing twenty five videos on themes, including women empowerment, environment and sustainable development. Netflix will produce two-minute short films for the Ministry, which will be shared on social media platforms and telecast on the Doordarshan network”.

Thakur, who was addressing a select audience and media on Tuesday at the launch of ‘Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniya’, a short video series on seven inspirational tales involving Indian women created in collaboration with Netflix, added that the series could extend to 75 to mark the 75 years of Indian Independence celebrations.

In the presence of Netflix Head of Global TV Bela Bajaria, the Minister urged that streamers like Netflix could — and should — increase local productions to turn India into a hub for content generation and post-production.

Elaborating on the multiple dimensions of the MIB-Netflix partnership, Thakur, according to an official government statement, said Netflix and the Ministry will continue to organize training workshops and master classes to encourage film makers in India to create inspiring content on various topics under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav umbrella.

“Netflix and (the) ministry will partner to develop a creative ecosystem by organizing training programs for post-production, VFX, animation, music production among others and will be organized on ground and virtually”, he announced.

“This initiative aims to bring out inspiring stories of Indians and these stories shall motivate and empower more people to achieve their goals,” he added.

The event was attended amongst others by junior MIB Minister Dr L Murugan, MIB Secretary Apurva Chandra, and three women change makers (featuring in the series of seven inspiring women) — Padma awardee environmentalist Basanti Devi, Padma Shri awardee and Everest summiteer Anshu Jamsenpa (the first woman in the world to summit Mount Everest twice in five days in 2017) and India’s first female firefighter Harshini Kanheka.

The Minister lauded the remarkable achievements of the three women present, saying their stories will inspire people across the country. He also expressed hope that after this collaboration filmmakers from across the world will come to India to make films and documentaries for not just the Indian audience but to showcase it to the entire world.

Earlier, Secretary Chandra, in his opening remarks, highlighted the convergence between the MIB and Netflix and said that the two entities signed a collaboration agreement and these three videos released Tuesday were the first set produced under this pact.

He added that a deeper collaboration, featuring a long running series on India’s freedom struggle and the stories that need to be told to the world, is in the pipeline.

Speaking on the occasion, Netflix’s Bajaria said that India was one of the most vibrant entertainment industries in the world and it was remarkably well placed in times of internet entertainment.

“Netflix is excited to be part of a time when stories from India are being exported to the world and the best Indian stories are being discovered and loved on a global stage,” she said.

Commenting on the partnership with the MIB, Bajaria said that Netflix was proud to partner with the government to “celebrate and acknowledge the evolution of India over the past 75 years by celebrating its beautiful art, culture and storytelling”.

She further added that it was “in pursuance of this partnership, Netflix has created a series of short videos based on real life stories aimed to celebrate achievement of people from all corners of India”.

Netflix’s commitment to India is strong and growing and Netflix will continue to find the country’s finest stories and share them across the globe, she remarked.

‘Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniyan’ is an iconic initiative, which brings out beautiful stories of inspirational Indians on various themes, including women empowerment, environment and sustainability, amongst other topics.