The session 'Going Local to Global: Is Going Back the Way Forward' was held at Cine Talkies 2024 on 14th December at NSE Mumbai. The session was moderated by Journalist Pankaj Shukla, in conversation with Producer Director Padmashree Nil Madhab Panda and acclaimed screen writer and lyricist Niren Bhatt of Stree 2 Fame.

Pankaj Shukla taking on the concept Local is Global said," We are pleased to celebrate the centenary year of Raj Kapoorji and he is considered the biggest example of taking local to Global. His story telling included the story of footpath in Awara, a Dacoit in Jis Desh Main Ganga Behti hai, and his root was love. In context of local in Indian cinema is not just of villages, it's our behavior, friendships, and relationships. He has friends like Mukesh, Shailendra and Shankar Jaikishan."

Nil Madhab Panda explains local to global," I was in Iran and went to a dead river and an old man sang the song 'mere man ki ganga' and they all started singing that song of Raj Kapoorji. Like the film Elephant whisperers is also a local story which has reached global and won an Oscar, as it's emotion reached the universal audience."

He adds, "Local is a story which is basically deep rooted. Our stories comes from our grandparents, and every person is an opinion and is a critic. If your story has the emotion, since the themes are universal, it's how you portray your stories in what form, it can connect irrespective of language, culture, it touches universally."

Actor Producer Swapnil Joshi on local is Global, " Telling my story is local, when we tap universal emotion in a local flavour. We have lot of Marathi plays and writings but since people don't read, as we listen to audio viduals and there are many stories and subjects which are not going ahead. For me going back to the roots is being local."

He added," To go ahead you need to actually look back to your roots and look at your culture. Cinema is a reflection of society but also society influences the society, we have to bond with the society and blend that fabric into cinema. Believe in our emotions, values and customers, we should be able to break the Mould, take the chance and hook the viewers."

Swapnil throws light on mediums playing a role in depicting the story emotion right says, "Today to tell stories you are not dependent to make a film, but with OTT we can make it happen. If I listen to a script, we ask is it a film story or a Web series or a TV Show need to hold on to emotions and so the medium has to be correct and as makers mediums play a great role."

Acclaimed screen writer and lyricist Niren Bhatt of Stree 2 Fame said," Stree 2 is a folk legend of Tamilnadu, which comes from a folk legend. Munja also adopted from a folk legend, which is based on a grandmother and a grandson, and so it connects to our tradition. Bhediya is a folk legend of Arunachal Pradesh ' Yakun' which is a man who turns into a wolf to protect the nature, that is local. So, storytelling needs to be that you get transformed into that jungle of Arunachal."

He added, "I think that mainstream cinema does understand the emotions, that works in every film. I think the definition of commercial cinema has changed. Earlier it was only Hindi films, which was main stream. But today every film is mainstream, as people watch regional films with subtitles and audio tracks, which has become local.