Idea of reviving village tourism via village filming locations put forth during SCO Film Festival

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Emphasising on promoting new unseen filming locations of Maharashtra, Managing Director, Maharashtra Film, Stage & Cultural Development Corporation, Dr. Avinash Dhakne advocated the idea of reviving village tourism via village filming locations during the ongoing Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Film Festival is underway in Mumbai.

There is a need to provide cash incentives and to pull South Indian producers to shoot in North Indian states to make ours truly a pan-Indian industry, Dhakne said during a panel discussion on the fourth day of the Film Festival. The theme of the panel discussion was ‘Simplification , Incentivisation and Promoting India as a Filming destination.’

The panel also consisted of eminent producers such as Aashish Singh and Arfi Laamba (Bombay Berlin Film Productions), Prithul Kumar, Joint Secretary (Films), Government of India and Managing Director, National Film Development Corporation.

Joint Secretary Prithul Kumar highlighted the role of the Film Facilitation Office (FFO), which provides a catalogue of shooting locations, and rebates in different states to incentivise and promote Film production in India.

Producer Aashish Singh remarked that facilities that FFO provides such as rebates and a catalogue of locations are exactly what producers seek, in addition to ease of shooting. He noted how Austria and UK became attractive foreign filming locations by giving rebates on Actor/Director fees, discounts on crew expenditure, etc in the process.

Arfi Laamba pointed out that though India has all types of filming locations, there continues to be a lack of basic infrastructure in far off locations such as North East India. He therefore highlights the need to bring better ease of shooting in the form of improved logistics, crew facilitation etc.

The session concluded with Prithul Kumar highlighting the emerging role of VFX in film production in India. He also shed light on Government steps such as promoting the Invest India portal, integrating it with foreign embassies and providing a National Single window clearance for promoting India as filming destination.

The SCO Film Festival is being held during India’s Presidency of the International Cooperation Organization. It also coincides with the celebration of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

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