From Alam Ara To The Elephant Whisperers: India's Booming Entertainment Industry The proliferation of smartphones, connected TV, advent of 5G and affordable data rates all contribute to the fulfilment of the digital India dream.

By Kabir Singh Bhandari

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From Alam Ara (1931), the first Indian talkie, to now The Elephant Whisperers, we have come a long way.

Indians now consume nearly 20 GB of data per month on an average number one in the world already and expected to reach 46 GB by 2027. The proliferation of smartphones, connected TV, advent of 5G and affordable data rates all contribute to the fulfilment of the digital India dream. Propelled by double digit growth. By 2025, we are set to become an INR 2.83 trillion industry. These were some stunning figures revealed by Jyoti Deshpande, Jio Studios Head and CEO Viacomm 18 recently.

"Our mantra of Make in India and to show the world the rich and diverse history of our stories has evolved from over the last 90 years- From Alam Ara (1931), the first Indian talkie, to now The Elephant Whisperers, a story from our nation's heartlands making waves internationally. Quite literally, the world dances to the tune of our Natu Natu," Deshpande had said at the FICCI Frames summit.

She spoke about how India is a leading force in the global entertainment landscape and about how in 2015, Jio had started a digital revolution to connect everyone and everything everywhere. Free IPL streaming on Jio has been a disruption in the true sense, a digital forward economy has already seen content and data consumption levels reach monumental proportions by global standards.

"We were told that the Indian content production sector is extremely fragmented and we can never scale it. Just last month, Jio Studios unveiled its slate of 100 plus stories of movies and web series across several languages. A case study in the Jiofication of the content industry. It would be my dream to smash through every forecast as we lead the digital way forward to the world, be it through democratization of the creator economy or disruption in digital distribution. No one innovates like India. No one can implement to scale like India," she had said.

Kabir Singh Bhandari

Former Senior Assistant Editor

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