Red carpet for foreign film crews

Foreign film crews, who have often shied away from the Indian locales due to the notorious bureaucratic hurdles, will soon have a red carpet rolled out for them. In an effort to promote India as a filming destination across the world, the Modi government has asked all state governments to facilitate foreign film crews and production houses. The states have also been asked by the information and broadcasting ministry to appoint a nodal officer to interact and liaise with these crews and production houses so that they do not face trouble in shooting of films. “The state governments have been re-quested to appoint a nodal officer for the purpose of promoting and facilitating film shootings in their state,” sources stated.

The need for facilitating foreign films production was felt as despite being the biggest film producer, India has been unable to attract adequate number of foreign productions. A films facilitation office (FFO) has already been set up by the government — a step towards facilitating single-window clearance for filmmakers, promote India as a filming destination and provide the platform for film tourism in the country.

“The FFO would regularly engage with these nodal officers to remove any roadblocks and ease out the process of permissions, as well as promote the states internationally through initiatives such as conducting familiarisation tours for foreign filmmakers, participation at international markets,” sources added.

The FFO would act as a facilitation point for film producers and assist them in obtaining requisite permissions, disseminate inf-ormation on shooting loc-ales, as well as the facilities available with the Indian film industry for production and post-production. The FFO would also identify and recommend such policy changes at the Central and state levels that would make India a more film-friendly destination.

The Modi government has also instituted the “Most Film-Friendly State” award as part of the National Film Awards with the objective to encourage the state governments to support the film industry.

The first such award was jointly shared by Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. The award aims to sensitise the Indian states towards film tourism, advantages of bringing in foreign filmmakers to shoot in their state, promote India as a preferred filming destination, as well as encourage the growth of the film industry.