Chinese Checkers: How CCP Has Been Attempting to Influence Indian Entertainment Industry | Exclusive

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been persistently trying to influence the Indian entertainment industry, intelligence officials told CNN-News18. For instance, it organised the China-India Film Co-Production Dialogue at the Beijing International Film Festival in 2019. This event managed the participation of prominent Indian cinema icons.

This was started as an India-China joint effort, but it was handed over to a regulating body from China and came directly under the CCP, said officials. Later, they decided to make joint films, which was not new, but it was visible in a few of the projects that they were made according to the will of the CCP, the officials added.

The CCP has also formed an industry body, dedicated specifically to the Indian film sector, they said.

Pushing agenda

In the past, a group named the India-China Film Society was constituted by the CCP’s unit China Film Association and the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

In one case, the producers of the film “Rockstar” had to blur a flag that had “Free Tibet” written on it which was shown in a popular song, officials pointed out.

Intelligence inputs have come many times that China has been setting the narrative of some films in Bollywood, they added.

To prove their market for Bollywood they have generated fake data and social media impact to attack the industry, the officials said.

Chinese investment in Indian media

According to officials, Xiaomi led a $25-million investment in Hungama Digital Media Entertainment—an aggregator, developer, distributor, and publisher of Bollywood films.

Gaana is the largest Indian commercial music streaming service, in which the Chinese internet giant Tencent has invested over $115 million.

Tencent also funded video streaming platform MX Player with over $110 million.

Alibaba Group has invested around $2.11 million in online video analytics and marketing company Vidooly.

Tencent has invested around $12-15 million in audio series platform Pocket FM, officials said.