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Police security for film shooting in Mumbai from May 1

According to the police sources, a 12 member delegation of Film & Television Producers Guild of India, headed by film producer Mukesh Bhatt had met Maria a few days ago. The producers put forward their issues and concerns with regards to shooting before the commissioner.

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Due to tiresome procedures from the police department to secure required permissions for shooting in the city, the Bollywood industry has been preferring to shoot outside Mumbai. As per those in the Bollywood, shooting in Mumbai had reduced to only 10 per cent due to various issues such as police permissions and harassment from union, goons and police as well. In order to ensure the Bollywood doesn't lose it's charm in Mumbai, the city police chief Rakesh Maria has decided to streamline the procedure to provide permissions and a police constables for the production houses during their shoots in Mumbai so that the production houses do not face any hindrances.

According to the police sources, a 12 member delegation of Film & Television Producers Guild of India, headed by film producer Mukesh Bhatt had met Maria a few days ago. The producers put forward their issues and concerns with regards to shooting before the commissioner.

"The delegation told the commissioner that they require permission to shoot at public places from local police which had to then reach all the way till police headquarters and traffic police apart from various other agencies involved. As per the delegation, seeking permissions from the police is most lengthy and difficult process for them which mostly results in delays of months for the shooting. The delegation had requested for a single window permissions system which will ensure a speedy no-objection from the police department," said a police officer.

Producers and television channel heads also discussed the issue of union and extortion by goons with Maria. "The producers faced a lot of issues from unions active in film industry. They said that union people sometimes shut down shooting over trivial issues leading to tremendous loss to the production houses. Sometimes, goons also try to extort money to allow shooting," said the officer.

"Last year, a film producer who had shot a movie in Mumbai for 60 days had to cough up Rs 1 crore in bribes," said a filmmaker on the condition of anonymity.

"The process of getting permissions were very cumbersome and hence the shooting had reduced to only 10 per cent in Mumbai as producers prefer shooting outside the city. The delegation told the commissioner that in order to bring back Bollywood to the city, positive measures should be taken by the police department," Mukesh Bhatt told dna.

As per Bhatt, meeting with Maria was very positive and the commissioner has ensured all possible support to the film industry. "The commissioner is serious towards addressing issues of film industry and once the procedure is streamline we would again be able to see Mumbai on big screens which is not the case now. The commissioner has also accepted the problem from within his own department," he said.

The commissioner has assured to the delegation that Theatre Branch of the city police which in the Mumbai police headquarters will work as a single window system for the film producers seeking police permissions. The producers will have to inform the branch a fortnight in advance about their shooting schedule in Mumbai after which the permissions will be granted to them.

"Mumbai is known for its Bollywood and it is not good that Bollywood is going out of this city. We want to make things conducive for the film industry and the industry people will not have to run around for permissions. There has been instances wherein police try to knock out money from them. We have also proposed them that they can take a constable from the department on a fixed charges basis for their shooting, till the completion of their shooting in the city and this policeman would stay in touch with control room if there are any law and order issues. He will also ensure that the shooting goes smoothly. The entire process will be functional from May 1," Maria said.

Also the police headquarter would communicate to every police station about permissions given to which production houses for shooting in the city so that there is no botheration from the local police station.

The delegation included Siddharth Roy Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor, Ritesh Sidhwani and Karan Johar among others.

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