JOIN USCentre announces goodies for foreign filmmakers
Foreign and domestic filmmakers would now find it easier to shoot in India as the Centre has decided to create a single window clearance system in each state to boost tourism sector in the country.
“We want more films to be shot in India. Be it a filmmaker from abroad or India, we will create a single window system in each state to facilitate all of them with an easy process to give them clearance for carrying out shooting. We will also incur the expenditure, whatsoever, met by them in getting this clearance,” Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay said here.
At present, filmmakers are required to acquire permission from several departments for shooting in the country.
“I will ensure that a nodal officer is deployed at the chief minister’s office in each state to facilitate them with an easy process of clearance. Films have emerged as a great medium to promote tourism. We hope, our efforts would yield the desired results for India,” Sahay said after signing an MoU with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to jointly promote tourism in the country.
Union I&B minister Ambika Soni said the government wanted to attract foreign filmmakers to India for shooting their movies. This will highlight many known as well as unexplored tourist destinations in India that may boost tourism.
"Many countries have made a lot of efforts in this regard and have seen results yielding. Film makers from Bollywood visit these places abroad and shoot their films," she said.
The Minister said the MoU seeks to initiate a dialogue with the states and union territories for developing of shooting locations. It also aims at creating and building upon a film tourism vertical of the ‘Incredible India’ campaign by promoting Indian cinema as a sub-brand.
The MoU seeks to constitute a national-level panel for coordination with various stakeholders for promoting India as a film and tourism destination and for facilitating visas for film units from overseas.
The Ministry of Tourism would provide budgetary support for identified film festivals, markets and events. The ministry would facilitate publicity through the available content based on existing audio visual material and print designs. The joint participation of the two ministries would cover the Cannes Film Festival and Market, IFFI Goa including the Film Festival and Film Bazaar and European Film Market at Berlin.
The MoU is also expected to boost India's share of tourist arrivals from 0.6 per cent to 1 per cent by the end of the Twelfth Five Year Plan.
This would result in achieving 11.37 million targeted foreign tourist arrivals by 2016, as compared to 6.29 million in 2011, according to tourism ministry officials.