A few Bollywood celebrities visited the Raj Bhavan today to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was here, in Maharashtra, for a one day visit. A delegation of Bollywood producers and actors such as Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Karan Johar gathered at the Raj Bhavan to discuss the issues being faced by the Indian film industry. The delegation also included prominent film producers such as Ritesh Sidhwani, Siddharth Roy Kapur, the president of the Film Producers Guild, Rakesh Roshan, Ronnie Screwvala, Vijay Singh - CEO - Fox Star Studios and Prasoon Joshi, the chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Koffee with Karan 6: Karan Johar Apologises to Kajol for Writing the Hateful Chapter about Her in His Book.

Karan took to social media to share a photo with the PM and captioned it as: "It was enlightening to hear the honourable Prime Minister @narendramodi share his views on our Industry’s soft power status and the strength of our cinema...he gave our media and entertainment representatives a patient and solid hearing....thank you Sir!!".

Check out his post below-

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It was enlightening to hear the honourable Prime Minsiter @narendramodi share his views on our Industry’s soft power status and the strength of our cinema...he gave our media and entertainment representatives a patient and solid hearing....thank you Sir!!

A post shared by Karan Johar (@karanjohar) on

The team from the film fraternity gave an overview of the vast growth potential of the media and entertainment industry. They also pitched for lower and uniform rates of GST for the entertainment industry in India, a statement issued by PIB said.

Akshay Kumar also shared a pic from today's meet with the PM. Check it out here-

 

The Prime Minister said that the Indian entertainment industry enjoys immense popularity across the world. It is one of the key elements of India's rising soft power status, globally, he added. He assured the delegation that the Union Government is supportive of the media and entertainment industry; and would consider the suggestions positively.

Members of the delegation also called for the development of Mumbai as the global entertainment capital through various initiatives and proactive approaches. This was the second meeting of the filmmakers with the prime minister since October 24 this year. They, along with actor Aamir Khan and Sidhwani, had met the PM in Delhi.

Sidhwani, according to the industry sources, urged the prime minister to look towards treating cinema as an "industry" by acknowledging its contribution to the nation's exchequer and fiscal growth, and in promoting bilateral ties between nations as a global cultural ambassador.

"It was a collaborative effort to come forward, address issues and seek solutions from the Prime Minister directly," the insiders said, adding that the PM "acknowledged that our films are being recognised internationally and agreed that filmmakers are no less important than nation-builders". "He has assured the delegation that he will personally work towards setting up a special committee to look into the industry matters and address them urgently," sources said, adding that it was a "productive meeting with a positive outcome."

The prime minister is on a day's visit to Maharashtra in which he will launch infrastructure and housing projects worth about Rs 41,000 crore in the state.

-With inputs from PTI

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 18, 2018 10:54 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).