WAVES 2025 Day 1: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rajinikanth To Speak On Cinema - Check Out Full Schedule
The ambitious World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025 summit will be kicked off in Mumbai on Thursday, May 1, by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The summit, which is being held at the Jio World Centre in Bandra-Kurla Complex, will be attended by some of the biggest names including Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rajinikanth, SS Rajamouli, Alia Bhatt, Akshay Kumar, Mukesh Ambani, among others.
The day will begin with PM Modi inaugurating WAVES 2025 at 11:45 am at the Jio World Centre. The ceremony can be watched live here.
Check out full schedule for May 1:
Legends & Legacies: The Stories That Shaped India’s Soul
After PM Modi inaugurates WAVES 2025, the very first session will be headlined by some of the biggest names of Indian cinema: Hema Malini, Mithun Chakraborty, Rajnikanth, Mohanlal and Chiranjeevi, and the session will be moderated by Akshay Kumar.
The session will highlight the importance of telling stories that have shaped India over the years, and how they can be made available to the audience across the country.
The New Mainstream: Breaking Borders, Building Legends
It will be followed by another session, which will shed light on films and filmmakers from India, who have enchanted the audience not just in India, but across the globe, surpassing all boundaries and barriers of language and cultural leanings.
The panel will be moderated by Karan Johar, while the speakers enlisted are SS Rajamouli, AR Rahman, Anil Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal.
The Art Of Creation
This panel will feature actors Shahid Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao and Riteish Deshmukh, along with directors Atlee and Zoya Akhtar, and the topics discussed would be the dos and don'ts of filmmaking, the nuances and the work that goes behind creating a film, right from conceptualisation, to acting, editing, marketing and the ultimate execution in theatres.
The Journey: From Outsider to Ruler
One of the most important sessions on Day 1 will be headlined by Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, and who better than these two to speak about what it feels like being an outsider in the film industry. Interestingly, it will be moderated by Karan Johar, who has been tagged as the 'flagbearer of nepotism' and has often faced allegations of not promoting outsiders.
Transcending Boundaries : Story Telling in Age of AI
Keeping in tandem with the changing world and the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), director Shekhar Kapur will enunciate the trends in storytelling and cinema, now that we are in the age of AI. The session will give insight on how AI is, and in future will, impact how stories are being made and told.
Building the Next Global Entertainment Revolution from India
The session will be headed by none other than India's richest business tycoon, Mukesh Ambani, and he will be seen speaking on the initiative of WAVES, and the drive to take Indian entertainment to a global level.
Talent beyond Borders
The first day of WAVES 2025 will end with the session led by actor Allu Arjun, who is basking in the success of his Pushpa franchise.
The film smashed all records at the box office, not just across India but also abroad, and who better than the actor to speak on recognising and encouraging talent beyond borders.
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