Sops fail to lure filmmakers

Visakhapatnam: Though the State government and Andhra Pradesh Film Development Corporation are offering several sops to promote the film shootings, the producers are not paying much interest to shoot the films in the north coastal Andhra districts. In fact, Visakhapatnam city and rural areas have a huge potential for movie shootings.

With nature based beautiful locations and huge number of heritage structures, industries and forests, Visakhapatnam is one of the top ten locations in the country. However, with the outdoor production cost is increasing, the producers are not opting Visakhapatnam for shootings.

At an average about 10 to 12 Telugu film shootings registered till 2010, besides a big number of Odisha and Bengali movies in Visakhapatnam. Several blockbuster movies including Superstar Krishna's historical hit 'Alluri Sitaramaraju,' Kamalhasan's super hit movie 'Maro Charitra,' NT Rama Rao's hit film 'Driver Ramudu,' Victory Venkatesh's 'Swarana Kamalam' and several other movie shootings took place in Visakhapatnam.

However, during the past one decade the number has come down drastically and presently the Visakhapatnam is hosting two or three movie shootings only. Even the small budget movie producers are also not showing much interest to make their films in Visakhapatnam. The big budget movie producers are selecting foreign locations and spending huge money.

Observing the severity and to promote film industry in the State particularly in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh Film Development Corporation has announced several incentives to the small budget movies. The Corporation is offering Rs 20 lakh incentives and also assuring to provide single window clearance from VMRDA, GVMC, Police, Fire, Revenue, Endowments and several other departments.

But, the producers are not showing much interest to shoot their films in Visakhapatnam."It is true that Visakhapatnam is one of the top ten suitable places for shootings. However, due to several restrictions and rules and regulations at the heritage constructions, the producers are not showing much interest in Visakhapatnam.

Earlier, the PSUs, forest and other departments supported the shootings, but such cooperation is not forthcoming now. As the cost of outdoor shooting has gone up, discouraging the filmmakers," said Miryala Subbarao, a film financer.