To promote Himachal Pradesh as a favourite and major destination for promoting film making a Draft Film Tourism Policy is on the anvil which would not only give fillip to tourism industry but would also facilitate film activities in the State. Director, Information and Public Relations Department, Rajender Singh disclosed this while deliberating at the Workshop on ‘Single Window Clearance Mechanism for Shooting of Films in India’ at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi today.
He said that the State offers a wide range of interests, assets and activities to the film producers. Besides, the salubrious environment and the rich cultural heritage distinctly depicting Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist life styles and traditions holds good interest for all. He said that the State had been organising film festivals and other film related activities at Shimla from time to time with an objective of promoting Cine Media. Retro of Shyam Benegal’s films was held in the State with the assistance of National Film Archive of India, Pune. Besides Indian Panorama- Film Festival was held at Shimla in coordination with the Directorate of Film Festivals New Delhi in which prominent and award winning films were screened.
The cases of Film Units are being sent to respective Deputy Commissioners and Superintendent of Police for providing all administrative and logistic support within their jurisdiction to the Film Production Units. He said that the State had been ensuring that all necessary permissions for film shootings were provided under one umbrella.
Rajender Singh said that the State Government was pursuing the matter with GoI for getting the air strips at Shimla, Kullu and Dharamshala extended and upgraded besides operationalising regular flights which would provide added facility for film production and would boost tourism in the State. He said that films were the best way to promote tourism and Government had been trying its best for promoting film production. He said that complimentary facilities and rebates etc. could also be extended to film makers where they avail Government facilities like accommodation, transportation, equipments etc.
Himachal had always been a popular destination for film industry and had been attracting film makers since last six decades and the Draft Film Tourism Policy would pave way for Bollywood industry to invest in the State.
