New film city for Seemandhara on anvil

Following the decision of soon-to-be new state of Telangana to set up a separate film council and chamber, members of Seemandhra have now expressed desire to start a new film city in their region for the benefit of filmmakers.

"Following the state's divide, we are concerned about that fate of our film industry. We need a parallel film city in Seemandhra as we fear if Hyderabad is taken over by Telangana, then we are likely to miss out on lot of benefits," producer Natti Kumar, who is heading the campaign for a new film city, told IANS.

Hyderabad is home to the famed Ramoji Film City, and all other big ticket film studios.
On July 30, it was announced that Andhra Pradesh would be divided to carve out a separate Telangana state.

"Our focus is not to compete with our counterparts, but to protect our industry that runs into hundreds of crores. We have raised concerns to make places such as Vizag, Tirupathi and Vijayawada as the next shooting spots and also sanction lands to set up new studios and labs in Seemandhra," he added.

Not long ago, a group of filmmakers from Telangana region expressed interest to set up a separate committee called Telangana Cinema Task Force, which would protect the rights of filmmakers in their region.

A memorandum on the concern of Seemandhra filmmakers has been submitted to a special committee, which is overlooking issues related to the state's bifurcation.

"We have submitted a memorandum with respect to the issues we are likely to face as an industry in the wake of the state's divide. We have also sought the support of Seemandhra politicians in making this effort a success. We only want to set up a parallel film capital with all the basic facilities," said Kumar.