The fear of being outshone was the only prod that could get this stalled stallion to trot again. The Maharashtra government’s long-pending plan to revamp Mumbai’s Film City in Goregaon may finally see the light of day after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath made a proactive bid to lure film units from Mumbai to his state.

Cultural affairs minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has announced that within a year, Maharashtra will float a global tender seeking the participation of American and European architects and studios to prepare a very futuristic design to revamp the existing Dadasaheb Phalke Film City. The state plans to undertake a Rs 4,500-crore project to convert Film City into a global tourist attraction by combining it with the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP), he said.

The proposed revamp became a talking point after the recent visit of Yogi Adityanath to Mumbai to attract domestic investors ahead of his Global Investor Summit 2023 in Lucknow from February 10-12.

Adityanath met eminent members of the film fraternity and announced that UP's film policy will soon be amended to offer a 50% subsidy for web series, in line with the subsidy offered to films. It will provide for 25% subsidy for OTT films and another 25% from the state government for setting up studios and labs. Around 67 of 521 acres of UP's aspirational Film City have already been distributed for film-related activities.

Within days, the Maharashtra government announced that Goregaon Film City will be modernized. Mungantiwar promised to construct state-of-the-art studios and tourist attractions similar to Universal Studios of Hollywood. The new Film City and SGNP will combine into a three-day package tour for international tourists to carve the zone into a long-term revenue model along the lines of Miracle Garden in Dubai or the Eiffel Tower in Paris. "Within two-and-a-half to three years the project will break even," he said.

Amit Behl, honorary national secretary of CINTAA, said, "This Film City revamp has been in the offing for the past decade. In fact, in 2015, we had a meeting with Mr Vinod Tawde, who was the minister of culture, and tenders were to be floated at the time. But now it is very nice that Mr Mungantiwar has decided and the plan is finally taking off. Film City has many advantages, it is close to Western Express Highway, and its incredible topography and landscape include various contours, like mountains, lakes, forests, and jungles. Much of the land has already been cleared for studios."

Behl said this revamp will primarily help bring back all those TV production units that have seven-day telecasts and have moved elsewhere to shoot, like far-off Naigaon and Vasai if they are offered concessional rates.

“Even feature film units, and web series that have moved outside Film City – indeed outside Maharashtra – will come back if they are offered proper infrastructure. Most importantly, Maharashtra as a state should start first offering subsidies and support to the Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Rajasthani, and Bhojpuri industries that basically function from Mumbai. They may shoot anywhere,” said Behl.

Behl said the Maharashtra government should follow the module of other states like Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, UP, and Jharkhand which are offering subsidies and discounts, and Delhi and Punjab which provide single window clearance.

Behl said, "It must function like a semi-private body. The red tape should be removed from Film City, and provide single window clearance. Film City authorities should involve maximum participation from film actors, producers, directors, and technicians from the entertainment industry and the Media Entertainment Skill Council, in its functioning, to enable Mumbai and Maharashtra to regain their lost glory and revenue. Then regional and foreign film units will come and stay with us. Also if hotel facilities like lodges and two-star hotels, five-star hotels, like Ramoji Rao Film City has, can be provided, then those actors and technicians that have moved out during the pandemic will come back. It will be a value add. But two things, single window clearance for shooting and losing the red tape, are very important," he said.

Talking to Mumbai Mirror, Mungantiwar said once the concept is prepared another tender will be floated but only after consent of the cabinet led by CM Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. "The CM and Dy CM will decide how to go about the contract. We are considering all three models of construction, EPC (engineering, procurement and construction), PPP (public-private partnership), and BOT (build, operate, and transfer),” he said.

Before awarding contracts, however, the encroachments on site will have to be removed, he admitted. An ambitious Mungantiwar is looking at roping in reputed international film studios such as Universal, Fox, Sony, and Disney in the project.

Birendra Nath Tiwari, president of FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees), said, "We knew for long that a revamp of Film City was the need of the hour. It is in such bad shape, you cannot take a good photo from anywhere. It is not picture-perfect at all. It looks like the setting for a horror movie, no beautiful film can be made here. We had given a few suggestions to the state government earlier. But we welcome Mr Mungantiwar's decision to implement the plan. Film City's management is zero. Politics and corruption is rife, people are appointed to serve vested interests and MDs are transferred on a whim. The state's idea of bringing in foreign architects is good, but we also have brilliant architects and professionals who build grand sets, they should also be involved in the revamp. Other states like UP, MP, Uttarakhand, and Haryana are all either building or planning a Film City, but Mumbai in Maharashtra, which is the capital of the entertainment industry, is lagging."

Tiwari said, "I welcome this revamp on behalf of lakhs of industry workers. I look forward to the new morning when we can visit our Film City and actually feel that we can complete our film here."

In 2018, the state invited global tenders for Film City, but there was no response. However this time, tenders will be more "bidder-friendly" and a competitive response is expected, said officials.

Meanwhile, reacting to Yogi’s meeting with the film industry, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said that the UP CM would be naive to assume that the industry will shift from Mumbai. "Dadasaheb Phalke started the film industry which then spread to the entire country. It belongs to everyone. If he (Yogi) wants to make a Film City in UP, then he should. But no one can take the industry out of Mumbai," Raut said.

Yogi’s visit shook not just the state but indeed Film City authorities from their slumber. Soon after, following a request from Film City, the state's urban development department wrote to BMC commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal, asking for 15 km of roads within the area to be concretized. And the political quagmire deepened.

As there is no clarity on who will pay for road repair, opposition parties alleged that the government is trying to milk the cash-rich BMC. Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh said the letter itself mentions that all this is being done for shows like 'Big Boss'. "Why should public money be spent for their convenience? Today, the average cost of concretizing per km of road is Rs 15 crore. This means the authorities will spend Rs 225 crore to concretize these roads which is not going to benefit the public,” he said.

"If the BMC starts constructing roads in areas that are not in its jurisdiction, when will it focus on works it is obligated to do? This is nothing but an attempt by the state government to save face as Yogi Adityanath has tried to woo Bollywood and the UP Film City plans have been announced in a big way. The BJP must not politicize Bollywood or any arts,” said former Congress corporator and opposition party leader Ravi Raja.