A week after Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s high-profile meeting with Telugu film personalities, assuring them government cooperation for developing Hyderabad as national film destination, the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce came forward asking the government to allocate 1500 to 2000 acres of land in Hyderabad to set up a Cinema City.
To this end, they have submitted a letter with several other requests to the Telangana Film Development Corporation. The previous government had announced that it would provide lands for the establishment of a cinema city in Hyderabad in 2020. It had said that international-level studios would be built on those lands and the best facilities would be provided.
In addition, the government had proposed that infrastructure would be provided on the lands allocated and that an airstrip would be built for flights. But, nothing has come forward so far. This issue was mainly raised by the film industry, the FDC.
The current government has requested that lands be allocated anywhere within 24 km of Rajiv Gandhi International Airport for the construction of a Cinema City. It has also suggested that the government take special steps for ticket transparency. Expressing concern that black ticket racket is rampant during the release of big movies, the industry has proposed to introduce an ‘online ticketing’ system to prevent this.
It has suggested that this online ticketing system be implemented in phases, including in district centers and municipalities under the first phase and in gram panchayats under the second phase. Similarly, it has sought a decision on digital service providers.
It has been stated that many companies on this platform are charging high charges for screening movies and steps should be taken to reduce them. It has also suggested that it would be good to bring a digital service provider system within the government.
It has been explained that along with the online ticketing system, if the government brings these service providers under its purview, there will be a huge relief for the producers. It has also sought permission from the government to make the joint venture digital cinema technology system available.
The industry has requested the government to provide the necessary permissions for movie shootings under a single window system. They said that they are charging Rs. 50,000 per day for shooting in any area under the jurisdiction of the Forest Department, which is very burdensome, and appealed to the government to pay attention and reduce these prices.