'Indian fashion will be loser if Govt. bans FTV'

(Posted on 3 January 12:50 pm)

Indian fashion will be the loser if the government follows through with Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj's threat that fashion channel FTV will be banned unless it "synchronises with Indian culture", B4U Managing Director Ravi Gupta said on Wednesday.

"If it (FTV) does not synchronise with our culture... I am getting it monitored for a week. After that we will show the highlights to the parliamentary consultative committee so that a joint decision can be taken," she told PTI on 31 December, 2000.

"FTV is a channel for the fashion industry. And should be seen as such. What is aired is actual ramp action both in India and across the fashion capitals of the world. It has nothing to do with pornography, Gupta stressed. He clarified that as there had been no direct communication from the government on the matter till now, whatever was being debated was purely speculative.

He also made the point that FTV provided a platform to bring Indian fashion to a global audience through its daily 10pm screenings devoted to the Indian fashion scene. "If the channel goes off the air Indian fashion stands to lose a great deal," he warned.

So how will B4U respond if there are moves to ban the channel? "We will seek legal redress," said Gupta. He however added that B4U did not plan to get into a dogfight with the government on the matter if it was adamant in its stand. "If they insist we will simply take FTV off. We won't make an issue of it, he said.

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