CM Yogi Adityanath had recently announced the major plan to set up a Film City in Uttar Pradesh. The Chief Minister on Tuesday revealed details of this plan to set up a Dedicated Infotainment (film city) Zone and also set an open offer to film fraternity to come to the state.
He also announced that 1000 acres has been identified in Gautam Budh Nagar by Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) where the Infotainment Zone will be set up with all world class civil, public and technological facilities.
CM meets with Indian film personalities
A bevvy of film personalities immediately lapped up the prompt action of the state government and said it has been a 'right step at the right time'. They, in fact, spoke with the Chief Minister who presided over the meeting with them on setting up the film industry in UP.
The Chief Minister said that the proposed site is just an hour away from New Delhi and very close to the proposed International Airport at Jewar, going to be the biggest greenfield airport in Asia. Having also been close to Agra, the city of Taj, Mathura, the birthplace of Krishna and near to the proposed logistic hub in Noida, the proposed dry port and freight corridor thus providing all facilities of transport and movement.
Efforts will be to make this as the best 'Dedicated Infotainment Zone' of the country. He said his government is well aware of the present trend of OTT and Media Streaming Platforms, hence the High Capacity, World-Class data Centre along with all pre-production and the post-production infrastructure, processing labs, VFX and digital technology of international level will be provided in this zone. "We have locations, we have cultural diversity, and we have manpower and now the film city with state-of-the-art facilities. This is an ideal case for a Film City in Uttar Pradesh, ''the Chief Minister said.
He said all the policies of Industries will be applicable for the takers and Single Window Mechanism will be used to facilitate those who want to come here and set up their studio. He said the state government's Film Policy-2018 has already some talking provisions. Even then, if some proposals are forthcoming from the film fraternity, the government will take those into consideration.
In fact, a number of film personalities including — Shri Vijayendra Prasad, Shri Ashok Pandit, Shri Kailash Kher, Singer, Shri Manoj Joshi, Producer-Director, Shri Nitin Desai, Producer-Director, Shri Vinod Bachchan, Producer-Director, Shri Pragya Kumar, Singer Shri Udit Narayan and Shri Anup Jalota were present in the meeting.
Smt. Saundarya Rajnikant, Shri Anupam Kher, Shri Atul Agnihotri, The Chairman of National School of Drama (NSD) Shri Paresh Rawal, Lyricist Manoj Muntasir and Shri Satish Kaushik interacted with the CM on a virtual platform.
Ace Art Director Shri Nitin Desai offered to set up an entire Film City on the lines of what he has been set up in Mumbai. He was of the opinion that about 80 per cent of technicians and workforce in Mumbai film industry is from UP and after the industry in UP itself, the availability of manpower will never be a problem.
In another offer, Shri Sandeep Singh of Vistas Media, a Singapore based Company, has offered to set up a Film Academy with an initial investment of 10 million dollars.
Shri Ashok Pandit, the Chairman of Film Producer Association, welcomed the proactive action by the state government and he said one should look beyond Hindi films and even multilingual films can be made here. 'After all the Bhojpuri films are already made here,'' he pointed out.
Veteran actor Shri Anupam Kher said the proposed Film City should have and will enjoy global recognition. He emphasised the training aspect and asked to evolve training logistics. Noted Film Producer and Director Shri Satish Kaushik, who recently shot a film Kagaz in UP, said that UP has offered a great alternative to film professionals and aspirants.
Lyricist Manoj Muntasir welcomed the UP government for taking Hindi film industry to Hindi speaking belt. The local ethos and mosaic culture will get a further boost if film institute and music academy are also based in UP, he said.
Saundarya, filmmaker from the Tamil industry, said that the animation, digital technology and other facilities are the needs of the hour and which are already proposed in the Film City of UP.
Well-known singers Udit Narayan, Kailash Kher and Anup Jalota praised the Uttar Pradesh government and the Chief Minister to carry out such an onerous task in such a short time. Among others who were present during the occasion included Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner (IIDC), Shri Alok Tandon, Additional Chief Secretary, Information and Home, Shri Awanish Kumar Awasthi, Additional Chief Secretary to CM, Shri S P Goyal, Director of Information, Shri Shishir and other senior officers.
