WAVES and I: Registrations open for everyone, except the most deserving media journalist

WAVES and I: Registrations open for everyone, except the most deserving media journalist

Press Information Bureau (PIB) team WAVES put out a Press Release on 28 April on its website, as below. Reading it, we learn that WAVES will be held at the Jio World Center in BKC, Mumbai, during May 01-04.

It ends with these words: Register for WAVES now. 

But it does not say that media-persons cannot register now, or hereafter.

PIB is the central government’s public relations and information agency. It is answerable to the Indian citizens and duty-bound to practice fairplay, justice, inclusiveness and equality.

WAVES proves that it believes in unfairplay, injustice, exclusiveness and inequality

Is it open to the media?

It is. It should be. It must be. It has to be. But much before putting out this Press Release, PIB had stopped registering media. In other words, media-persons can attend if they pay, but as paying public, not as media-persons.

I know one of the speakers at the Summit, so inquired from him where could I register as a media-person. He did not reply. Since NFDC is now more expansive than ever, and must be playing a key role in organising WAVES, I inquired with NFDC, during April 25 and 26. Of the two contacts I had, one had resigned some time ago and the other did not reply. My mail addressed to the Managing Director of NFDC was not replied to. So the effort was unfruitful. Then I thought that PIB would be the best organisation to provide me the details. PIB has sent me intimations and invitations to such events as IFFI, MIFF, etc. Inquiries were made with PIB, on 28th, 29th and 30th April, and got the following responses, from two persons belonging to the PIB:

Mr. Akhtar Said and Ms. Smita Vats Sharma, Director General. Both of them know me very well for years. Mr. Akhtar knows me for decades and Ms. Vats Sharma, the current Director General of PIB Mumbai, has known me for close to a decade. What the PIB said, in reply to my numerous phone calls, emails and WhatsApp messages, was as follows:

1. PIB had sent registration details to one WhatsApp journalists’ group, long ago.
2. They had also sent press releases to this group.
3. They had sent out invitations to a Press Conference to this group, and the invitees attended the PC.
4. Registrations for media were now closed. I was not told what ‘now’ meant. When were they closed?
5. It was my fault that I did not receive or read earlier communications, sent only to that one media group, and so I would have to bear the consequences.
6. I was asked to send my application and various other documents to two persons, by the PIB, with copies to a third email id. I did. One of them replied saying that media registrations are closed. The other two did not reply. I sent copies to Ms. Vats Sharma and Akhtar Said, and reminders. No response.
7. My numerous phone calls, emails, WhatsApp messages and SMSs to Ms. Vats Sharma and Mr. Akhtar Said yielded no results.
8. Yesterday afternoon, I called Ms. vats Sharma again. She said she was in a meeting and would call back. She did not. When I called back hours later, a mere 14 hours before the event was to be inaugurated, she said my application had not been registered, and I would hear from PIB only if it was.
9. According to PIB, they have registered between 700 and 1,000 media-persons. Why is there such a vague figure, I do not know. But adding 1 to this count is not going to make the event collapse or put it in the red. Yet, they have not budged.
10. If they had limitations on numbers, it was all the more reason to vet the applications and give priority to

1. Senior Journalists
2. Journalists with additional qualifications, other than mere journalism
3. Journalists with varied experience, in various communications media
4. Journalists who have closely associated with PIB in the last 6 decades
5. Journalist who are members of the most prestigious federations in the world, like FIPRESCI
6. Journalists who have been senior lecturers and trainers in media for long periods (I have lectured for 38 years)
7. Journalists who represent international media

The fact that they kept me, who answers the above questions with a “yes”, and can submit documentary proof of his claims, out of the loop, proves that registrations were given to a favoured group only.

11. PIB said it would try to get me registered, but there was no confirmation till date (01 May, 0900 am. The Summit starts in an hour).

1. I informed them that I was not aware of any such journalists’ group to which the intimations and invitations were sent by the PIB.
2. I was not aware that to attend WAVES, one must belong to a particular journalists’ group.
3. I was and am an individual with un-matched credentials in covering media-related events.
4. I had not received anything from the PIB in any form, about WAVES. Had I received any such communication, why would I start making inquiries now?
5. On at least 100 occasions in the last 50 years, PIB has sent out invitations at the last minute—1 or 2 or 3 days before an event. And I have still attended those events. This was the case during 2024 and 2025 too. Mr. Said had met me on all such occasions, and had been helpful. I had thought that in this case too, there must have been such a delay.
6. PIB is being discriminatory and showing favouritism to this one group, at the cost of not reaching out to journalists who are not in the group.
7. a) I am the senior-most media journalist in Mumbai. My first film review appeared in 1969, and the last one was posted yesterday.

b) In these 56 years, I have written more than 2,500 articles on media and 900 articles on other subjects, for over 250 publications, national and international.

c) I have held editorial positions in 7 media publications.

d) For the last 10 years, I am the India Correspondent of filmfestivals.com, Paris, and have contributed over 500 articles and reviews about media. The website has 1,99,000 followers plus daily visitors, both from India and abroad. It is the official publishing partner of the Cannes Film Festival. Most of my writings for this website are free. I do not earn anything at all, but since media are so close to my heart, I still keep writing.

e) I am a member of FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics, which has only 39 members from across India. Membership is extremely selective and only film critics who have served in this capacity for many years and their writing is of the acceptable standards are invited to become members.

f) I have served on the Juries of 9 international film festivals, including festivals held outside India.

g) I have attended over 169 international film festivals and written about them extensively in various publications, including official bulletins, on invitation from the PIB. These include 45 IFFIs and film festivals outside India, like in Georgia, Europe and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. I wrote 50 articles on the 50th IFFI, a world record in media journalism.

h) I have conducted several press conferences on invitation by PIB in IFFI Goa.

i) I have a Diploma in Cinema, and was the class topper of my batch

j) I have a Certificate in Film Appreciation and an Advanced Certificate in Film Appreciation from FTII and NFAI faculty.

k) I have a diploma in Advertising and Marketing, again being the topper of my batch.

l) I have acted in 14 feature films and 28 TV serials, including a short film for the BBC.

m) I am 73 years old and not in good health. But I am perfectly mobile and attend all media events I am invited to, and write about each of them.

n) I am a Founder-member and former President of Freelance Media Journalists’ Combine.

My challenge

If there is even one Mumbai-based journalist who has been given registration, and can match, if not exceed, my credentials, qualifications, experience and output, I will immediately withdraw my application. If there is no journalist who can match these, you are denying me my basic right.