India, July 30 -- Building on the success of its first edition, Create in India Challenge (CIC) Season 2 has been announced by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting recently to seek proposals from industrial associations and institutions that can help foster innovation within the rapidly evolving media and entertainment space in India. As part of the WAVES Bazaar program, CIC seeks to help identify upcoming talent and help turn good ideas into commercial and marketable intellectual properties through mentoring, exposure and financial support. More than 50 industry challenges will be organised in areas like artificial intelligence, animation, visual effects (VFX), extended reality (XR), games, esports, comics, films, broadcasting, music, dance and digital media. Selected institutions could be provided financial aid worth Rs 1 crore per challenge by the ministry. The announcement is in continuation of the success stories coming out of the first edition. For instance, the story called Road to Jinji - A Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj Story that was created by Harshal Pandhe under the Unreal Cinematics Challenge not only became a screenplay but even had a production bible and an investor pitch deck along with a 15-minute proof of concept that is currently being developed. The project won accolades at WAVES 2025 from the Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and even won support from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, NFDC and TVAGA. The project has since been shown at IndiaJoy and presented at Bharat Parv at the European Film Market at Berlinale 2026.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.