Film City — the hub of Hindi film industry in Goregaon (East) will be soon redeveloped on the lines of Universal studios based in Los Angeles.
Deshmukh-led team recently inked an MoU with Irell & Mannella to scout for investors
Film City — the hub of Hindi film industry in Goregaon (East) will be soon redeveloped on the lines of Universal studios based in Los Angeles. The state government has now appointed Irell & Mannella, an attorney and consultancy firm representing major Hollywood studios and top stars, to look for strategic partners to convert Film City into a multi-million dollar studio and amusement park.
The proposed new Film City hub would be run by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with a government and strategic partners seeking their share.
“We want the partners to invest, maintain and run the new hub. We will scrutinise their background, investment potential once the names are referred to us and keep the freedom to choose. Ideally, we would like to have two to three partners. Since the amusement park theme would be Bollywood, we would also suggest the joint venture partners to tie up with the leading industry banners to work out the rides and exhibits,” said Bhushan Gagrani, secretary, culture affairs and managing director, Film City
Like the 480-acre Universal studios, the approximately 520-acre Film City with its 16 studios and many unexplored hills, would be equally divided into an amusement park and studio arena. The government is also looking for partners with latest 4D technology for movies, joy rides and permanent exhibits from the film world. Officials are keen to hunt for various costumes, rare memorabilia and books to recreate a Bollywood museum in the amusement park.
With many movie studios dying out to the high property prices and lack of maintenance, the government is keen to revive the studio culture in the new hub and is banking on funds from Hollywood.
In fact, of the three new studios developed in Film City on Built-Operate-Transfer (BoT) basis, two would have a viewer’s gallery for tourists to watch film shoots.
“Most old film studios in city were not designed to take visitors and there was no space to build viewer’s gallery. In fact, even if we want there is no space to build such galleries. Also, getting a disciplined crowd to watch an outdoor shoot would be tough and would depend on the producer,” added Gagrani.
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