I&B ministry issues directive, says Hindi credits mandatory for Hindi movies

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

The Information and Broadcasting ministry released a letter on Tuesday stating that credits of Hindi films should be in Hindi too. This is for people who do not know English and are watching the movie so they are not deprived of the information about the cast and crew.

Bollywood filmmakers have been intimated that their films' credit rolls must appear in Hindi, or bilingually (Hindi and English). The directive will be put into effect in a month's time. The move has generated a mixed response from producers and trade pundits.

Trade analyst Atul Mohan believes it's fitting that the movie credits appear in the national language. "If countries like China, Korea and France are releasing the credits in their national languages, why shouldn't we do the same? However, the audiences don't come to watch a movie for the credit titles, but for entertainment."

Stating that the development won't burden the producers, tradesmith Amod Mehra feels it hardly adds to the film-watching experience. "Hindi is our rashtra bhasha and if they want the credit titles in Hindi, it's fine. But it's a futile exercise because the audience walks out when the credits are rolling." Pahlaj Nihalani says the move simply adds to the producers' woes. "Our budget increases as we have to shoot additional footage."

Snapshot of the circular issued by the I&B Ministry

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