Bollywood inches closer to the Capital

NEW DELHI: A Bollywood buzz is being felt in the Capital's neighbourhood. The Film City at Noida, run under the aegis of the Uttar Pradesh government, is drawing big banners and stars. Says Ramesh Sharma, owner of the Moving Picture Company, which has its office in Noida: "We provide state-of-the-art animation facilities that till now were outsourced by Bollywood companies from Europe, USA and Australia.We provide the same quality with much less costs." The Film City now has 15 studios and quite a few sets, apart from professional institutions imparting quality education related to film-making. Recent movies that Film City has been associated with, whether for indoor or outdoor shoots, include Bandit Queen, Dil Se, Beta, Abhay, Sirf Tum and Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, with Bollywood stars such as Anil Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty, Govinda and Rani Mukherjee having spent time here. "Till now, the impression had been created that the Noida's Film City was still largely unsuccessful, though film cities in Hyderabad were doing good business. The impression is fast changing. It is obvious that Bollywood has been impressed by the facilities available," says a spokesperson for The Asian Academy of Film & TV and Marwah Films & Video Studios. While exact figures for revenue generated were not available, an indication is provided by a phenomenal 200 per cent increase in volume of production over the past five years, as per the figures with the Uttar Pradesh government. The annual figure for the number of feature films, TV serials has gone up from 52 to over two hundred last year. While Bollywood has taken time to be fully confident of the facilities available here, production of television software has taken off in a big way. Eagle Films, an independent film production house since 1953, was the first company to set up a studio in 1990. Today it boasts of two air-conditioned shooting floors, with independent and fully fitted control rooms, make up rooms and 100 per cent power back up. "Our list of regular clients are Star TV, ESPN, Prannoy Roy's NDTV, Siddharth Basu's Synergy Communications, Rajat Sharma's IMPL besides numerous others," says a spokesperson. Over 1,500 different programmes have been shot at the Eagle Films Studios in the last decade. However, if there have been problems, it is to do with the the red tape to set up equipment as well as high service tax. According to Ronil Barua, an independent film maker, "Each state protects and encourages films in its own language. But, Hindi has neither mother nor father. UP should let the Hindi film industry treat it as its 'sauteli maa' if not the real mother," he said. An example that is cited is that of Yash Chopra who brought a plot here but has not been able to set up shop due to red tape. "This is the reason that television software is bringing in the bulk of the revenues for the studios," says Barua. But, the consensus here is that matters are improving, business is flowing, and Bollywood is beginning to arrive at the Capital's doorstep.