In 1998, FICCI had organised the first seminar on cinema reflecting the ‘Challenges before the Indian Cinema’ during the month of May. Later in the year, another conference was carried out by FICCI on Film Finance and Insurance, brining to light the issues concerning the film fraternity.

“Considering the response that we received for the two seminars, a concrete platform was required to address the issues facing the film and entertainment sector other than the awards ceremony,” said Siddharth Dasgupta, Additional Director, FICCI.

“In 1998, Sushma Swaraj declared entertainment sector as an industry. But due to change in government, the issue was on hold. In 2000, following another request by FICCI, the formal notification was passed declaring the entertainment sector, including films, as a full-fledged industry, thus making it eligible for bank financing,” he added.

Apropos FICCI's effort to get the Indian entertainment sector officially recognised as an ‘industry’ a need was felt to create an annual platform where media and entertainment industry could meet, exchange ideas and explore the opportunities for business enhancement.

Subsequently, FICCI organised a global convention on the business of entertainment in 2000. They realised the importance, power and reach of such a platform and came up with a logo and corporate identity for the event, which came to be known as FRAMES from 2001 onwards.

The first convention with christening of FRAMES happened in 2001 where eminent personalities like S K Chakrabarti (CMD, IDBI), Amitabh Bachchan, Sushma Swaraj, Subhash Ghai, Shyam Benegal, Dilip Cherian (CEO, Perfect Relations), Pramod Mahajan, Shahrukh Khan, Shabana Azmi, V J Lazarus, President & MD, Universal Music (India) Ltd, Arun Arora, President, The Times of India Group and Munesh Khanna, Country Head, Corporate Finance, Arthur Andersen, were present.

Apart from speeches and special address, the topics discussed included Regional Cinema: New Opportunities, Entertainment & Media Research, Regulatory Framework of Broadcasting, Capital Raising for the Entertainment Industry, New dimensions in Event Management, Bonds, Contracts, Insurance for Entertainment Industry, Legal, Copyright & IPR in Entertainment Industry etc.

FRAMES 2002 witnessed the presence and participation of equally big names like Hema Malini, Aishwarya Rai, Kamal Hassan, James Murdoch, Chairman & CEO, Star Group, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Abhik Mitra, MD, Saregama Ltd-Film Soundtracks, G Venkateswaran, CMD, GV Films Ltd, Senthil Kumar, Director, Real Image, Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM, Sunil Alagh, MD, Britannia Industries, and Rajdeep Sardesai, Political Editor, NDTV.

K V Krishnamurthy, Chairman & MD, Bank of India, had announced to set aside Rs 50 crore for film financing. This came in succession of IDBI’s commitment in 2001 to set aside Rs 100 crore for film financing. More than 50 eminent overseas speakers from across the globe participated at FRAMES 2003. Varied topics ranging from Multiple Revenue streams for entertainment industry, Business of Film Making- Agony & Ecstasy, Exhibition & Distribution: Expanding the market, Advertising: How to make the rupee go further, Broadcast - 2008, Crystal Gazing, Education & Manpower Training: Mandatory for growth, Television Programming: Getting the right mix, International Media Perspective on Indian entertainment Industry, Co-production: A win - win game and Conditional Access System were discussed.

Rani Mukherjee, Dilip Kumar Ravi Shankar Prasad, Amit Khanna, Chairman, Reliance Entertainment Ltd. and Chairman e-entertainment alliance Shyam Benegal, Boney Kapoor, Ketan Mehta, Film Maker & MD Maya Entertainment, J P Dutta, Sanjay Bhattacharjii, COO, UTV Motion Pictures, Anupam Kher, Pramod Khera, MD, Aptech, Pradeep Gupta, CEO, Cybermedia Group, and Michael Grindon, President, Columbia Tristar International Television, USA, were among those present.

FRAMES 2004 marketplace brought together creativity and commerce in Indian entertainment bazaar with focused audience, innovative opportunities like Screening Room, Press Conference Room and a steady flow of serious visitors in the three-day event. Over 250 international entertainment industry delegates participated in FRAMES 2004 from over 20 countries and the attendance too went up by 30 per cent to over1500 from just 1200 in FRAMES 2003.

In addition to the first Pakistani entertainment industry delegation to India in 40 years FRAMES 2004 witnessed the first-ever International Animation Industry Awards instituted in India. In addition, Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini were awarded the FICCI Living Legend Awards. The platform also felicitated INDO-US co-production agreement between business delegates.

Walt Disney International, IMAX Corporation, Bertlesmann were some of the important global entertainment companies present at FRAMES 2004 to get an in-depth understanding of the Indian Media & Entertainment Industry.

Mukesh Ambani, Subhash Chandra, Andy Bird, President Walt Disney, Michelle Guthrie, CEO, Star, Robert L McCann, Chairman & CEO, Nielsen Media Research International, Marcel Fenez, Asia Pacific Leader, Entertainment and Media Practice, PWC, and Ashok Amritraj, Chairman, Hydepark Entertainment were among those present.

And now, FRAMES 2005 promises to be yet another milestone in the history of the entertainment industry.