Anurag Thakur meets Netflix CEO Reed Hastings; gifts him Bhagavad Gita

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur met with Reed Hastings, the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Netflix, who is visiting India. During their encounter, Thakur also gave Hastings a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. The Union Minister said that they had a constructive talk about what India has to offer the globe in terms of consumer content after posting two photographs from the meeting on social media.

He went on Twitter and wrote, "Good discussion with Mr @reedhastings (Co-Founder & CEO Netflix). Today consumers of content are traveling the world through stories; India offers a variety of opportunities and ideas - in multiple languages."

India and Netflix

Hastings recently stated in an interview with Business Today that investing more in India is a priority for Netflix. In the last two years, the company has invested Rs 3,000 crore in developing original programming, with a special focus on local content. He further said that over the last couple of years, India as a market has seen a rapid increase in video content viewing, fueled in part by people being forced to stay at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Netflix has established itself as a serious rival for the consumer's cash. The brand has developed instant memory in the minds of Indian consumers over the last five years.

Karan Johar's romantic drama Meenakshi Sundareshwar, Madhuri Dixit's mystery thriller Finding Anamika, Reliance Entertainment's Bulbul Tarang, and Ronnie Screwvala's Dhamaka starring Kartik Aaryan are among the upcoming slate of original films and series.

The political history of Anurag Thakur

Anurag Thakur is the Minister of Sports, Youth Affairs, and Information and Broadcasting. Thakur was previously the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha as a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party in a by-election in May 2008. He is a four-time Member of Parliament from Himachal Pradesh, having served in the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th Lok Sabha. On January 19, 2019, he became the first Member of Parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party to receive the Sansad Ratna Award, a private-sector award created in 2010 to honour MPs' accomplishments.

Image: Twitter/@ianuragthakur