NEW DELHI: With an aim to attract international filmmakers and encourage them to shoot in India, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) is working to minimise bureaucratic complexities of approvals required from multiple authorities including state governments and other agencies.
Apruva Chandra, secretary of the I&B ministry, said that the Film Facilitation Office (FFO) portal is being revamped to change the entire set-up to ease the process for film shooting and has involved ‘Invest India’ for the same. “We have plans to develop the FFO portal into a single window platform for various permissions for filming.
It is being revamped in coordination with various state governments and other agencies such as Indian Railways and the Archeological Survey of India to simplify the procedures…We also want provisions to track incentives being given on the website because sometimes, it is delayed,” said Chandra.
The FFO was set up in 2016 to promote and facilitate film shootings by foreign filmmakers in India. ‘Invest India’ is a government initiative to facilitate and empower all investors under its ‘Make in India’ programme to establish, operate and expand their businesses in India. “Invest India, with a vast network across the country and abroad, it is expected that FFO will cater to bring in more projects to the country,” added ministry officials.
The ministry has also launched incentive schemes for the shooting of the foreign film in India and audiovisual co-production. Projects that have been granted official ‘co-production’ status after April 2022 are eligible for the incentives.
India has signed an ‘audio-visual co-production agreement’ with 16 countries so far. The latest agreement was signed with Australia last week. The Government is simultaneously negotiating for the signing of an ‘audiovisual co-production agreement’ with 15 more countries - Mexico, Hungary, South Africa Argentina, Singapore, Tajikistan, Belgium, United States of Emirates, Turkey, Ecuador, Peru, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco and Mauritius.
According to the officials, few filmmakers were coming to India as the country has no incentive scheme. An international film production company can claim incentives upto 30 per cent (maximum Rs 2 crore) on qualifying expenditure.
“We know Rs 2 crore incentive is not a big amount but this will help those niche and small budget productions that face difficulties to get finances. But we are open to increasing the ceiling if any big-budget film comes. We may consider the proposal,” said officials.
Notable films permitted to shoot in India since 2016
Skater Girl (United States): Coming-of-age sports drama film directed by Manjari Makijany
The Valley of shadows (Spain): The film star Miguel Herran from ‘Money Heist’ web series
Sir (France): The movie stars Tillotama Shome, Vivek Gomber and Brice Poisson.
Extraction 2 (United States): Chirs Hemsworth returns as Tyler Rake.
The Briad (France): An adaption of the book of the same name by Laetitia Colombani
Last Film Show (France): Directed by Pan Nalin which had a world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival 2021
The White Tiger (United States): Written and directed by Ramin Bahrani
Victoria & Abdul (United Kingdom): British biographical comedy drama directed by Stephen Frears
Ladki: Enter the Girl Dragon (China): First Indo-Chinese co-production directed by Ram Gopal Verma
Thinking of Him (Argentina): Directed by Pablo Cear is Indo-Argentina co-production
What will People Say (Norway, Germany and Sweden): The film set in Pakistan but shot in India; mostly in Rajasthan