Mumbai Filmcity catering to Bollywood for nearly 4 decades

The Filmcity came into being in 1977 thanks to the guidance of late V Shantaram and late BR Chopra and thespian Dilip Kumar

Nestled in the vicinity of lush green forest and multiple indoor and outdoor facilities, Mumbai’s Filmcity has been catering to the Indian entertainment industry for close to four decades.

In recent months, Mumbai’s Filmcity has been in news because of a sort of a tussle between the Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh governments.

The Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in UP is developing an ultra-modern Film City in the vicinity of the national capital New Delhi with an aim for “open competition” making the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government react sharply asserting that it would not allow Filmcity to be taken away forcibly.

One thing is for sure is that the Maharashtra government needs to upgrade the facilities and put in action the modernisation plan that it has conceived and revised as well.

The Filmcity or the Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari is run by the Maharashtra Film, Stage & Cultural Development Corporation Ltd (MMSCDC).

The erstwhile Congress-NCP Democratic Front government and the previous BJP-Shiv Sena dispensation have given shape to the modernisation plans that are yet to be put into action.

Spread across 521 acres, the Filmcity has practically every possible terrain that one can ask for. It has hills, lakes, bridges, long and winding roads, and a green expanse.

Located between the Western Express Highway and Vihar Lake, it is in the vicinity of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, which happens to be the only national park in the world to be located within the metropolitan limits.

The Filmcity has nearly 40 different outdoor locations,16 well-equipped sound-proof studios and 80 air-conditioned makeup rooms. Recording studios equipped with state-of-the-art dubbing and mixing facilities and editing suites for 16/35 mm films are also available.

They also have ready-to-use sound effects and the services of qualified sound recordists. Besides, the Filmcity has also entered into an agreement with Reliance Media Works to offer high-quality colour processing service, digital studio, animation work and VFX and film restoration services within the studio-complex. It also has a tie-up with the Mukta Arts that offers digital facilities.

There are several permanent locations such as a temple, church, court, police station, jail, chawl, an ATM centre, car parking, shopping arcade, log hut, cottage, tribal village, multipurpose building exterior suitable for college, hospital and hostel entrances.

One of the major issues is to upgrade security. The plan includes the creation of more studios and outdoor locations like a railway station, an airport, and an international teleport for uplinking and downlinking. There are plans to allow tourists in the future and a monumental avenue and a Bollywood museum are also being planned that would showcase the journey of Indian cinema.

It would house galleries and memorabilia besides a souvenir shop. Artefacts of pathbreaking and landmark films would also be on display – like costumes and posters. Special walkways would be created so that visitors could see shoots even without disturbing the artistes, technicians and crew. The entrance gate too would be unique and a Bollywood square would also be created.

A few hotels and convention centres too are expected to come up within the Filmcity. For tourists, a mock shooting floor would also be created.