The response from potential bidders to two global tenders floated for the Film City project in Uttar Pradesh has become a cause for concern for the authorities. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s pet project seems to have hit a roadblock because of the lukewarm response.
Officials at the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) will meet in Lucknow tomorrow (April 5) to find a way out and decide on the future course of action. YEIDA had been exploring three potential models to develop the Film City: public-private partnerships, the Authority executing the project on its own, and awarding the entire project to a single entity.
The proposed Film City is planned to be built on 1,000 acres in Sector 21 of YEIDA. The first global tender for the prestigious project was floated on November 22, 2021. It was revised on August 27, 2022. On October 13, 2022, the Uttar Pradesh government approved the revised tender, and the second Request For Proposal (RFP) was published on October 17, 2022.
The deadline for submission of applications in response to the second global tender was February 14, 2023, which was extended to February 28 and then to March 31. YEIDA’s CEO, Arun Vir Singh, had said in an earlier interview that if the response towards the project remained lukewarm, the Authority might think of allotting plots in fragments to film industry people and companies associated with the film industry. Except for enquiries from T-Series and an offer by K.C. Bokadia to construct a film studio in the proposed Film City, not many others have shown interest in developing the Film City. Global companies like Sony, Fox and Universal had shown some interest but no company had made a formal application so far.
To lure film producers to the state and thereby expedite the Film City project, the Uttar Pradesh government had in February this year approved a Film Policy project under which subsidies had been provided for. A subsidy of 50% of the cost is payable to films made in Awadhi, Braj, Bundeli and Bhojpuri languages. For films made in Hindi, English and other languages, the subsidy payable would be 25%. The Policy also has a provision of providing a maximum of Rs. 1 crore subsidy for films which schedule more than half the shooting days in Uttar Pradesh.