UK film industry to lose Bollywood productions

London, Dec 26 (UNI) The new tax breaks for cinema, being introduced next month, could see the UK film industry lose dozens of Bollywood productions filmed here each year.

The UK Film Productions, which provides scouting, catering and extras for Indian film makers wanting to shoot in Britain, believes it could see a 50 per cent fall in business next year due to the introduction of the new tax system.

In 2006, the company worked on 15 Indian films in the UK, seven of which were with a single producer, Sudhakar Bokade, who is relocating to South Africa next year.

Till now Indian film makers have been lured by the tax breaks, which applied to productions that spend more than 20 per cent of their budget in the UK.

But from the New Year, any production wanting to qualify for tax relief must spend at least 25 per cent of the budget in the UK and pass a ''cultural test'' for Britishness, earning a minimum, of 16 out of 31 points for criteria such as hiring British actors and crew and using the English language.

UK Film Productions founder David Choudhry said, ''If these productions stop coming to the UK, we may have to shut down. We expect to do half as many films next year.'' In 2006, about 200 Indian films are said to have been shot in the UK.

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