PM Modi Announces India's First Ever Entertainment Summit WAVES, Invites Bollywood And Regional Cinema Stakeholders

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday addressed the nation during the last Mann Ki Baat of 2024 and announced that India will host its first-ever entertainment summit in 2025. While he invited the film, TV, gaming and technology entertainment industry stakeholders to participate in the maiden edition of the World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit (WAVES), he shared that the preparation to host content creators and creative minds from around the world is underway.

'WAVES will be like DAVOS'

PM Modi shared that WAVES is an effort towards making India a global content creation hub. Speaking in his monthly radio broadcast, the prime minister said, "Next year we will for the first time organise the World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit  (WAVES). You must have heard about DAVOS, where global economists assemble. Similarly, in WAVES personalities from the world's media and entertainment industry, and people from the creative industry will come to India. This summit is a major step towards making India a global content creation hub."

He added, "I feel proud to say that young creatures of our country are enthusiastically participating in the preparation of this summit. As we are moving towards a $5 trillion economy, our creator economy is bringing new energy. I urge the entire entertainment and creative industry in India, whether you are a young creator or an established artist, whether you are associated with Bollywood or regional cinema, TV industry professional or animation expert, whether you are associated with the gaming industry or are an entertainment technology innovator, you are all welcome to be part of WAVES."

PM Modi remembers Indian cinema icons

PM Narendra Modi also remembered the four icons of Indian cinema Raj Kapoor, Mohammed Rafi, Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Tapan Sinha in their birth centenary year in his last Mann Ki Baat address of 2024. 

The birth centenaries of Kapoor, the showman of the Hindi film industry, and Rafi, one of the greatest playback singers in Indian cinema who could paint a rainbow of emotions with his voice, were commemorated recently on December 14 and December 24, respectively.