Ashoke Pandit reacts to Union Budget 2023; says entertainment industry has always been neglected by every government – Times of India

Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, the president of the Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association, recently reacted to the latest Union Budget 2023. He also opened up about his expectations from the Narendra Modi-run government.
“The entertainment industry which includes cinema, television, OTT and state shows has always been very hopeful whenever the Budget is about to be announced, this happens year after year. But unfortunately, our entertainment industry has always been neglected by government after government. We have not been spoken about the way other industries are spoken about in the budget, whether it’s the textile industry, whether it’s the soap industry or health industry. The way other industries are identified, discussed, debated and benefits are thought for those industries, the entertainment industry has not been given that kind of importance or seriousness by any government till date,” he told new agency ANI.

Elaborating further, he added, “We have been discussing, we have been approaching but unfortunately that seriousness, as far as our industry is concerned, is not there in the politics of this country. Whatever battles we have fought, whatever the survival of this industry is, it’s all done by ourselves.”

Spilling some beans on his expectations from the upcoming budget, before it was announced by the Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. “Our industry is one of the biggest taxpayers of the country and during all kinds of trouble like during corona we played a very important role by entertaining the people sitting at home, we were responsible for people not getting mentally ill. So this industry has to be taken seriously by the governments and not only use us as promoters during elections or calling for events,” he stated.

Ashoke also called the industry people ‘promoters of our country’ as they play a crucial role to spread the word about India.