Yogi Adityanath government in UP unveils plan to set up Film City

He also announced that 1,000 acre of land 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.   

A bevy 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 of Asia.

The Chief Minister said UP is surrounded by seven states and provides a mosaic of culture, dialects and the religious, Vedic and mythological  historicity unparalleled to any other state. The ethos and traditions of the state amplify the vast natural and spiritual canvas of Uttar Pradesh.     

He said the 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 man power 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 Vijayendra Prasad, Ashok Pandit, Kailash Kher, Singer, Manoj Joshi, producer-directors, Nitin Desai, Vinod Bachchan, Pragya Kumar, singers Udit Narayan and Anup Jalota were present in the meeting while Saundarya Rajnikant, Anupam Kher, Atul Agnihotri, the Chairman of National School of Drama (NSD) Paresh Rawal, lyricist Manoj Muntasir and Satish Kaushik interacted with the CM on virtual platform. 

The prompt action by the state government immediately received a positive response as the ace Art Director 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, 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.

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 Anupam Kher said the proposed Film City should have and will have a global recognition.

Noted Film Producer and Director Shri Satish Kaushik, who recently shot a film Kagaz in UP, said that state has offered a great alternative to film professionals and aspirants.

Saundarya, the filmmaker from Tamil film industry, said that the animation, digital technology and other facilities are needed for the hour and which are already proposed in the Film City of UP.