PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry organised Conference on Film Tourism – India: The Focal Hub on 16th September, 2016 at Hotel Lalit, New Delhi. On this occasion, speaking on the importance of Film Tourism in India, Mr. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs & Minority Affairs (IC), said “The government of the day is contemplating a legislation to drastically prune the existing lists of host of permissions that are required to be obtained for shooting films for both domestic and overseas film producers as well as film makers.”
Inaugurating the Conference on Film Tourism-India: The Focal Hub under aegis of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Naqvi said that the government was conscious of the fact that film producers and film makers are subjected to obtaining host of clearances from Centre as well as States before these are permitted to film a particular location at a particular part of the country and he also declared that Government of India is planning to have a Bill on Film Shootings Facilitation in India in the next Budget Session.
The well known Film Producers and Directors such as Mr. Prakash Jha and Mr. Madhur Bhandarkar jointly urged the government to drastically reduce the list of permissions for film shooting currently numbering close to 35 from various governmental agencies as the current regime is highly bureaucratic and de-incentivize the film makers to shoot spots domestically available and chose to go overseas for the purpose as destinations there are shot with little interactions with authorities.
CEO, Prasar Bharti, Mr. Jawhar Sircar who also spoke on the occasion emphasized and appealed the film producing fraternity to avoid shooting situations and sights that do not represent the genuine facts of the country and damage its brand value in the eyes of foreigners.
Dr. Mahesh Gupta President, PHD Chamber, in his welcome remarks also sought conditions and atmosphere that are friendly to promote tourism through films and other visual media.Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Secretary General, PHD Chamber in his remarks promised to the government that the Chamber would pro-actively play the role of catalyst to promote the government policies on all fronts including that of Tourism