Master Plan for Revival of Film City, Mumbai
Film City to get a face-lift, master plan ready
Apart from raising number of studios from 15 to 35, the master plan making available script-to-screen facilities
By Kartik Lokhande
It is a small city in itself. It has got temple, lake, forest, factory, a bridge on an isolated road passing through jungle, and what not. All these locations were and are seen in umpteen movies and tele-serials. This stretch of around 500 acres is known as Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari or Film City, Mumbai.
Established on September 26, 1977, the Film City is all set to wear a new look. A plethora of changes is in the offing -- ranging from adding new studios to setting up model villages and outdoor locations. Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation (MFSCDC) Limited has prepared a master plan to make Film City the world’s best studio complex. “The biggest asset of Film City is its over 500 acres of land and we will capitalise on it to make it the world’s best studio complex,” said Laxmikant Deshmukh, Managing Director of MFSCDC Limited.
Deshmukh, who was in the city to receive award for doing commendable job during his tenure as District Collector at Kolhapur, shared details of master plan for revival of Film City with ‘The Hitavada’. The master plan focusses on film production, film tourism, and film history segments. It aims at increasing number of studios from 15 to 35. The plan comprises several components including Monument Avenue, Bollywood Museum, slum rehabilitation housing project, water body, support facilities, hotels, Model Villages representing every state of India, air transit support, Convention Centre, outdoor shooting locations, building stock, etc.
“We also plan to provide script-to-screen facility in Film City. One will have to come up with only script and we will take care of completion of film/tele-serial/audio programme till post-production activities,” Deshmukh added with a smile. To give final shape to the design of Film City as per the master plan, architect Sandeep Shikre has been roped in. To ensure that design has aesthetic sense and addresses requirements of film-makers, acclaimed art director Nitin Chandrakant Desai has been involved in the project.
Of a total area, Bollywood Museum will come up on 2,00,000 sq ft area. This area will have Jurassic Park ride, 007 James Bond gallery, virtual ride of movies like Raja Harishchandra, Sholay, Krish etc. Elaborating on the concept of film tourism, which is an integral part of master plan, Deshmukh said that tourists will be shown film shooting, given virtual ride, visit to museum. For the purpose, hospitality facilities like hotels and Convention Centre have been incorporated in the plan. Plan is also afoot to create a Biodiversity Park that will have canopy walk, butterfly park, reptile park etc. Film making areas shall be segregated and separated from tourist areas by access control and various security gadgets such as turnstiles, metal detectors, baggage scanner etc.
If everything works out well, the master plan will be submitted to MFSCDC Limited’s board of directors by March 15. Once the MFSCDC clears it, the plan will be submitted for final approval to the Government of Maharashtra. The whole project is likely to be executed on public-private-partnership (PPP) model.
Film City -- The location hub
Records tell us that the first film was screened in India in the year 1896 at Watson Hotel in Mumbai. The films and film-making caught attraction of many artists since then. Dadasaheb Phalke is credited with pioneering Indian film industry.
Inspired by his success and encouraged by him, many took to film-making. Soon, there were artists, music directors, lyricists, actors, singers, studios and what not. However, despite Indian film industry taking roots from Mumbai, Maharashtra Government did not have any major project of its own in this segment. Visionary film-makers like V Shantaram, B R Chopra, and veteran actor Dilip Kumar persuaded the Maharashtra Government to take some initiative in this regard. Their persuasion bore fruits and the Government formed Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation Limited on September 26, 1977.
Working under the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Corporation (now popularly known as Film City after the famous studio complex in Mumbai) came into being under the Company Act, 1956. In 2001, Film City (studio complex) was renamed as Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari in memory of founder of Indian film industry Dadasaheb Phalke.
Film City’s locations have been seen in countless many popular movies and tele-serials. The most-watched tele-serials namely Mahabharat, Chanakya, and more recently Kaun Banega Crorepati were shot in Film City. If more recent examples are to be quoted, superhit movies like Dhoom-2 (tunnel shot), Devdas, Aankhen, Mission Kashmir, Om Shanti Om, Kal Ho Na Ho etc were shot at Film City locations.
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