NEW DELHI: Indian filmmakers have often relied on foreign locations to embellish their cinema, but the trend seems to be reversing now as a large number of international directors are coming here to shoot.
In the last four years, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has allowed 87 foreign feature filmmakers to shoot in India, but the exchequer did not get richer as the Government got a paltry sum of `8.36 lakh from these ventures. The reason being an incredibly modest fee of $225 charged from the applicants seeking permission to base their films in India.
The Government has given many waivers to attract foreign filmmakers who do not have to pay customs duty on any of the shooting equipment brought from outside. As a result, imported equipment for photography, filming, sound recording, raw films, video tapes and sound recording tapes do not invite taxation.
Infact, 2007 and 2008 were best in terms of numbers when 27 and 26 films were shot in India. This year, 11 films have been permitted.
The Ministry is clear that it wants more people to come and shoot in India and offers to provide a large number of locales.
It is not that foreign films were not being shot in India, their number has certainly gone up. One of the reasons being attributed for this rise is India’s stature as one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Some credit also goes to Indian cinema which is making international headlines. No wonder Julia Roberts was in Pataudi, a little township near New Delhi, to shoot her latest film Eat Pray Love.
Apart from the locations, India as a subject for filmmaking has also caught the imagination of the foreign filmmakers.