NEW DELHI: The ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) has collaborated with OTT major Netflix to produce a series of short films on inspirational stories of individuals and freedom struggle under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, commemorating 75 years of independence.
On Tuesday, I&B minister Anurag Thakur launched a set of three shorts films featuring women achievers — Basanti Devi (environmentalist), Harshini Kanhekar (first woman firefighter in India) and Anshu Jamsenpa (first woman in the world to scale Mount Everest twice in a season).
In two months, the ministry will release short films on change-makers — Poonam Nautiyal, (healthcare worker who walked miles in Bageshwar district in Uttarakhand to vaccinate villagers), Dr Tessy Thomas, (first woman scientist to head a missile project in India), Tanvi Jagadish, (India’s first competitive woman stand-up paddleboarder) and Aarohi Pandit (youngest and first woman pilot to cross the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean in a light-sport aircraft).
These videos under the series ‘Azadi Ki Amrit Kahaniyan’ will be telecast on all channels of Doordarshan and be available on various social media platforms of the ministry and Netflix. These films will also be translated into other languages including Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, English and Malayalam to ensure that they are seen across the states.
Apurva Chandra, secretary of the ministry, said a deeper collaboration featuring a series on freedom struggle and the stories that need to be told to the world is in the pipeline. Thakur said this (association with Netflix) was a long-term partnership where different themes and diverse stories will be highlighted.
“This initiative aims to bring out inspiring stories of Indians and these stories shall motivate and empower more people to achieve their goals. Netflix will be producing 25 videos on themes including women empowerment, environment and sustainable development and other events of significance,” said Thakur.