BSY’s move, insult to Roerichs

The unilateral decision of Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to shift the proposed film city project from Mysuru to the verdant Tataguni estate on Bengaluru’s outskirts appears to be aimed at serving the interests of the real estate lobby than that of the movie industry. In effect, Yediyurappa is only reviving a similar plan during his previous stint as chief minister to set up a theme park and golf resort in the garb of film city, under public-private participation at Hesarghatta grasslands in Bengaluru, which was nixed by the courts. The current proposal also goes against the 2012 cabinet decision when Yediyurappa himself was the chief minister, to develop a rose garden, tree park and art gallery at 468-acre Tataguni estate. The estate on Kanakapura Road, once owned by celebrated Russian painter Svetoslav Roerich and his wife, actress Devika Rani, was taken over by the state government following attempts by third parties, after the couple’s death, to usurp the property and artworks worth crores of rupees.

The film city project has been jinxed from the start. The Devaraj Urs government had allotted 360 acres in the 1970s at Hesarghatta but the project for various reasons went into a limbo. When Ramakrishna Hegde was the chief minister in the 1980s, nearly 50 acres of the land earmarked for the city were allotted for other purposes. The proposal which was on the backburner was given life in the early 1990s by the then chief minister M Veerappa Moily, who appointed the V N Subba Rao committee to make recommendations on the implementation of the project. Another committee was constituted by N Dharam Singh and there were even talks about Hollywood biggies like Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer evincing interest. After Yediyurappa’s earlier theme park plan got embroiled in legal tangles, the Siddaramaiah government allotted 110 areas for the film city in Mysuru. His successor H D Kumaraswamy’s attempt to shift the project to Ramanagaram had to be abandoned following protests by Siddaramaiah and the film industry. Thus, over the years, the project has moved nowhere.

Yediyurappa’s decision to establish the film city at Tataguni estate without even obtaining the cabinet nod, is ill-conceived, unwarranted and gives rise to several suspicions. The government should take a leaf out of Himachal Pradesh where a similar Roerich property has been developed into an arts hub. Tataguni is one of the last remaining lung spaces around Bengaluru which, besides being home to several species of birds and animals, is also part of the elephant corridor. Converting it into a concrete jungle will not only be a disservice to the cause of environment, but also an insult to the legacy of the Roerichs.