Four years of Modi sarkar: Making India an attractive destination to shoot films

Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in the last four years has taken many initiatives with the objective to facilitate the growth of Media, Entertainment & Communication sector in the country. The aim has been to ensure Maximum Governance and Minimum Government.

The Ministry has been adopting new and innovative ways across platforms to reach out to people.

Let us have a look at its key achievements:

Film Facilitation Office (FFO)

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has put in place a dedicated web portal that will disseminate information on filming locations and the facilities available in India for production/post-production.

The portal will also help potential production companies looking to shoot in India to obtain permissions, explore potential benefits (tangible and non-tangible) and obtain an overview of various locations in India that could benefit the storyline of the film under consideration.

The portal would also provide information on locations and link to all State portals. It would capture detailed information pertaining to a particular location, resources or facilities available in a tandardised format that would include basic location description, map, best time to shoot, connectivity, photographs, digital walk tour, permissions required and previous movies shot.

E-Cinepramaan

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting on 27 March 2017 had launched Online Film Certification System E-Cinepramaan of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) with an aim to promote transparency and ensure Clean Cinema Clean India. This online system integrated the payments made by the producers towards certification fees with
Bharatkosh portal, a system for all non-tax revenue receipts.

Most Film Friendly State Award

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry had also started giving away award for the Most Film Friendly State in order to promote India as a filming destination. A cash component of Rs. 1 Crore will also be given to the winning state. And this year, Madhya Pradesh has been judged the best in the 'Most Film Friendly Award 2017' of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting beating 15 states, including Karnataka,
which was in the race.

New visas for foreign filmmakers to shoot in India

A new category of visa for foreign filmmakers was also introduced aimed at making India an attractive destination to shoot films.