Government to develop India as filming hub

The Narendra Modi government is aiming to develop India as a filming destination for the world even as it cleared 39 international films and television shows for shooting in the country during the past year.

Through the promotion of these international film shoots, the government hopes to promote India as a tourist destination.

Being viewed as a promotion of brand India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is himself understood to be monitoring the efforts as the process also aims to promote and present our culture to a larger world audience.

Late last year the BJP government had cleared the long pending demand of establishing a single-window clearance system, with a film facilitation office being operationalised at the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), eliminating all channels of bureaucracy and multiple stops for getting clearance for a film’s shoot.

Sources stated that as people from across the world are expected to see films shot in India, they are likely to be influenced which in turn can promote inbound tourist traffic.

A similar surge in tourist outflow is witnessed when a popular Indian or Hindi film is shot in an international locale, sources added.

Filmmakers from countries like the United States, Bangladesh, Canada, Germany, China, France, Israel, the United Kingdom, Australia, Switzerland and Indonesia are part of the list that has been cleared by the government, sources stated. Interestingly, apart from several feature films being cleared for shooting, television serials and reality television shows have also been given permission.

Over the past couple of years, the government is understood to have made concerted efforts to promote India as a filming destination.

In an effort to develop India into a major international filming destination, the information and broadcasting ministry has worked to reduce the multiplicity of agencies which are engaged in the task of granting various clearances at different levels in the government.

A single window clearance system is important as film-makers from other countries have to seek approvals from a plethora of local, state and Central agencies which makes it difficult for them to come to India. “The attempt is to simplify and rationalise procedures for foreign producers to come to India for shooting,” sources stated.

Sources stated that the I&B ministry is also working to functionalise a detailed set of standard operating procedures on a mechanism under which online shooting permissions to film-makers can be provided in a time-bound manner.

There will be specific timelines as per which requests for shooting will be processed by various ministries or state government departments. The timelines for permissions from various central ministries in the SOP range from around five to 45 days while they are still being worked out for departments in state and local level.