BENGALURU: The location for setting up a Film City in the state has often changed in last four decades. On Wednesday, the State Information and Public Relations Minister CC Patil said that the State Government will set up the film city near Mysuru.In the 2020-21 budget, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had announced that the project would be set up in Bengaluru at a cost of Rs 500 crore.
After that, the Information and Public Relations Department had written to Bengaluru Rural and Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioners, Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board and also Karnataka Housing Board asking them to provide 50-70 acres in or around Bengaluru suitable for the Film City and a film university.
“Suitable land is not available around Bengaluru,” Patil said and added that 110.08-acre land was allotted for the project at Himmavu village near Mysuru on October 17, 2015. In 2017, the project as well as taking other measures to attract tourists was entrusted to Tourism Department. Now, the government is considering handing over the project back to the Information Department, Patil said responding to MLC S Nagaraju.
Cooperative Minister ST Somashekar, who is also Mysuru district-in-charge minister, welcomed the move. Establishing a film city near Mysuru was a long-pending demand from the industry as there are a number of good locations near the City of Palaces that are suitable for film shooting.