Film City may get three state-of-art studios

Anil Ambani-controlled R-Adlabs, Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts and BR Chopra's BR Films have been short-listed for constructing three state-of-the-art studios at the government-owned Film City in Goregaon in Mumbai. The cost of the expansion is pegged at Rs 30 crore.

Speaking to Business Standard, managing director, Film City Corporation (FCC) Bhushan Gagarani said the three companies were shortlisted from more than 10 bidders as they had vast experience in film production and other aspects of film-making.

The companies will be asked to submit financial bids and the company, which will hand over the studio back to the FCC at the earliest will be awarded the contract, he added.

There are around 16 studios in the Film City currently but in late nineties when the boom in the entertainment sector was on, the existing infrastructure started proving inadequate.

As a result, many film and television producers started to move to new locations such as Hyderabad and Chennai for film production. Besides easy availability of dates, the studios in these cities were equipped with all modern equipment.

Realising the need FCC decided to construct new studios, the work for which had also begun but was abandoned due to paucity of the funds.

Last year, FCC decided to revive the project. But this time around, rather than investing its own money, the corporation chose to go the built-operate-own and transfer (BOOT) route.