KOCHI: The past two decades have seen Kochi become a hub of Malayalam cinema. However, the absence of a state-of-the-art studio in the city for carrying out post-production works like editing and dubbing always stuck out like a sore thumb.
Well, there is good news. The Kerala State Film Development Corporation Ltd (KSFDC) is gearing up to submit a proposal to set up a mega post-production facility in Kochi.
The Rs 100-crore facility has been proposed on 70 cents of land of the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) near Gandhinagar and will be built under PPP (public private partnership) mode. “After several rounds of discussions, including with the GCDA executive committee, we have decided to go ahead with the project. We will submit the proposal to the government next week. The idea is to commission the facility by May 2025,” said KSFDC MD K V Abdul Malik.
At present, film crew depend on studios in other states or abroad for post-production works as Kerala lacks a modern facility, said filmmaker and KSFDC chairman Shaji Karun. This increases the film’s budget. “The Kochi studio will greatly reduce post-production costs,” he said.
Malik said funds will be sourced from GCDA, KSFDC, and private equity, and over 51% of the shares will be government-owned.
KSFDC and GCDA are preparing a detailed project report. “We have identified 70 cents of GCDA land near the Lion’s Club in Gandhinagar. We hope to prepare the DPR by November. Once the paper work is done, work on the project will be started by April-May 2024,” said a GCDA official.
Meanwhile, talks between GCDA and prominent personalities from the arts and film fraternity on constructing an arts and cultural centre on the six-acre vacant plot of the authority near Manappattiparambu Road in Kaloor have not made much headway.
“Not much has happened. We sought opinions from experts in arts, cinema, and culture. After that, a detailed discussion will be required. We are planning to convert the area into a city centre with 70% open space and 30% with infrastructure,” said a GCDA official.
On offer: The studio will have advanced equipment for editing, dubbing, spatial audio technology (Dolby Atmos recording), sound mixing, digital intermediate, preview theatres, VR studios, VFX, computer-generated imagery studios, etc. A budget-friendly hotel with 40 rooms for technicians will also be built.