Ramanaidu setting up film studio at Visakhapatnam

Hyderabad-based Ramanaidu Studios, a leading provider of an entire range of production and post-production facilities and services for film makers, is setting up a film studio at the port city of Visakhapatnam.

The studio would come up on a 35-acre land near Timmapuram village, on the Visakhapatnam-Bheemili road. The foundation stone for the studio would be laid on June 11 and the construction would be completed by the year end.

Ramanaidu Studios currently owns two state-of-the-art film studios in the state, one at the Film Nagar in Jubilee Hills, and the other at Nanankram Guda on the outskirts of the city.

The studio at Film Nagar was set up with a 'walk in with a script and walk out with a canned film' concept with features like 24-track digital recording facility, a full-fledged video studio, and preview and dubbing theatres.

Speaking to Business Standard, D Ramanaidu, chairman of Ramanaidu Studios and Sri Suresh Productions, said, "We have already invested close to Rs 1 crore on laying roads at the Vizag studio. The first phase of the studio will have permanent sets including a shooting floor, modern house, police station, a middle-class and an old house settings. We expect the first phase of the construction work to be completed by the end of 2005 and start film shootings from January 2006."

He, however, refused to spell out the amount lined up for the studio. "It would be too premature to divulge further details at this juncture," he said. However, sources said that the first phase of the studio was planned at an investment of Rs 5 crore.

On plans to set up post-production facilities at the Vizag studio, the movie Moghul, who made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for producing the highest number of movies (124 movies in eight regional languages under the Sri Suresh Productions banner, to be precise), said, "Not immediately. Actually, we are planning to develop the studio both as a film studio and a tourist destination. We would equip the studio with post-production facilities only after seeing the response from film producers from neighbouring states like Orissa."

Ramanaidu Studios and Sri Suresh Productions have also opened a cine support facility "� Spirit "� in Hyderabad in April this year. Spirit offers state-of-the-art digital and special effects technologies to filmmakers and the global entertainment industry.