At the India Pavilion, at Cannes Film Festival’s Marche Du Films this year, a session titled – ‘Filming In India – A world of opportunities’ – saw the panel, comprising both creators and facilitators, discuss how India has become increasingly shooting-friendly after almost a decade of efforts and how ease in permissions has been fuelling a boom in filming projects in the country – with an aim of sustaining this and turning India into one of the most coveted content production hubs, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting also rolled out film shooting incentives at the festival recently. Excerpts from the discussion:

Recent years have seen several initiatives by the government to make shooting in India a smoother process. This includes the single-window permission system. During the session, Ravinder Bhakar, MD, National Film Development Corporation, said it has made the process much easier. “In the sense that if you want to shoot at an Archaeological Survey of India monument, then you don’t need to go to ASI, you can go to the Film Facilitation Office (FFO),” he explained.

The FFO has also been collaborating with states and central agencies to ensure not just timely permissions for shoots, but has also come up with a grievance redressal system. Ravinder added, “There was a need for such a system. Now, we immediately connect with the state system and around 68 such cases of filmmakers have been resolved immediately. Besides that, more than 50% states in India have come up with a film policy and we have also come up with a real-time incentives-tracking system.”

Saurabh Vijay, Secretary, Cultural Affairs, Maharashtra, said, “The Maharashtra government and our Film City Corporation took the initiative of introducing a pilot for single-window shooting which was implemented for Mumbai (in 2018-19). What we tried achieve was to have the police department, as well as other departments, streamlined. Around 2,000 applications have been successfully processed in this manner.”

He added, “Recently, the government of Maharashtra decided to extend this system across the state. It requires capacity building even at the district level, the collector’s office level. We are now in the process of onboarding them on the portal that we have created. We have rich locations in Maharashtra – from beaches to forts, which are mentioned on the portal, which also has the ASI. Recent examples of film shoots that happened here were Christopher Nolan’s Tenet (in 2019) and Shyam Benegal’s Mujib (in 2021-22). We are also inviting private players – for instance, if there is a good bungalow for shooting, we are trying to bring it all under the single-window system.”

He said that the government of Maharashtra has been working on a policy for ease of filming, and will look into concessions for film shoots at monuments.

Line producers often say that when filmmakers visit cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, they prefer to film at iconic locations, however, Ravi Kottarakara, General Secretary, Film Federation of India (FFI) and South India Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC), pointed out that there’s a gap between the kind of locations filmmakers want to shoot at and the kind of locations that are offered on film cell websites. 

Calling the latter ‘postcard locations’, he said, “What we should do instead, is take a vast series of photos and canvas the different locations which are available. It could be a monument, it could be a road, it could even be a small gali – we should have photos of all. We should have photos of even villages and small settlements.”

Filmmaker Jayarajan Rajasekharan Nair also pointed out, “Almost all the monuments across the country have raised the location fee. For modest budget filmmakers, it is very difficult to shoot at the monuments because of such high rates. I faced similar issues while shooting at Maharashtra’s Ajanta Ellora caves. I feel a concession is necessary.”

Kilian Kerwin, Head of Production, South Asia & Latin America with Los Angeles-based company SK Global Entertainment – who was here for the shoot of the 2019 series Delhi Crime – said that many of the difficulties they faced filming in India were similar to the what they’ve faced in any other part of the world.

He said, “The first thing you do as an outsider is to partner with the right people inside. I needed help in navigating the paperwork, finding locations. There’s a plethora of great line producers, facilitators, co-producers, and location scouts in Delhi. Like in any part of the world, you find the right people, and they make it easy for you, but yes, there was some guerrilla shooting happening too.”

Recalling an incident, he said, “There were certain things that happened, in a good way. Like, when we wanted a clear street, the AD just said something in Hindi and the entire neighbourhood got out of the way for us to get our shot. That would never happen in New York or LA, people would make an obscene gesture at you and probably try to spoil your shot to be mean. I think it’s the fascination with the magic of filmmaking (in India) that people are willing to help from the ground up.”

Be it Rajesh Khanna hanging out of a jeep while serenading Sharmila Tagore travelling in a toy train in Darjeeling (Aradhana) or Shah Rukh Khan dancing to Chhaiyya Chhaiyya atop a train (Dil Se), Indian films have always featured iconic train sequences. However, for foreign productions, shooting on trains has always been an issue. Back in 2011, for example, makers of the James Bond film Skyfall tried and failed to shoot a train sequence, after they couldn’t get permission from the Indian Railways. And so, the scene was filmed in Turkey.

However, today, Bond producers would find it much easier to shoot on an Indian train, say officials. Ravinder Bhakar, MD, NFDC – who had a long stint with the Railways before joining as the Central Board of Film Certification CEO in 2020 – said during the discussion, “As far as the Railways are concerned, we go through the script, evaluate it, do the necessary formalities and a dedicated officer is there to facilitate makers. The whole matter takes only two-three days. The Railway Board also came out with an exhaustive list of prices. So, whether you want to shoot in the yard, the coach or on the platform – there are prescribed guidelines; and the process is much simpler these days. You can also approach the Film Facilitation Office (FFO) for permissions from the Ministry of Railways.”

Presenting a comparative, filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda said, “I shot something in 2011 and it was a 30 day-long nightmare to get Railways permissions. However, in 2018, I got permission from the Railways within seven hours for a shoot in Delhi. It has become that fast.”