 "Boney Kapoor")
A consortium led by filmmaker Boney Kapoor on Tuesday won the final bid to develop the proposed Noida Film City spanning almost 1,000 acres in the vicinity of the upcoming Jewar international airport.
Kapoor trumped three consortiums featuring actor Akshay Kumar, fellow filmmaker K C Bokadia and production major Super Cassettes Industries (T-Series).
The four companies or consortiums that had cleared the technical bidding round on Saturday are Bayview Projects LLP, 4 Lions Films Pvt Ltd, Supersonic Technobuild Pvt Ltd and T-Series.
In the financial bids, which were opened by nodal agency Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) in Noida, Kapoor-led Bayview Projects emerged the winner after quoting a maximum 18 per cent of gross revenue-sharing.
While 4 Lions Films is represented by Bokadia respectively, Kumar is part of Supersonic Technobuild. T-Series, founded by the late Gulshan Kumar, is helmed by his son Bhushan Kumar.
“Now the matter will be placed before a committee of secretaries headed by the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary for vetting. It will be forwarded to the state cabinet for final approval,” Yeida chief executive officer Arun Vir Singh told Business Standard.
During the technical bidding round last week, the contenders had shared with Yeida and state officials their vision for the project that aims to rival the Mumbai cinema industry by providing a one-stop filmmaking ecosystem along with air and road connectivity.
The proposed project in Greater Noida, with estimated costs of Rs 10,000 crore, had twice failed to attract bidders ostensibly due to high investment requirement and prohibitive bidding terms.
Later, the state tweaked the bidding terms to make them more attractive to investors and entrepreneurs, and develop it in phases with greater commercial viability.
In September 2020, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh had announced plans to develop a Noida Film City in the National Capital Region. The first phase of construction is nearing completion at the site, which is an hour away from New Delhi and close to the Jewar airport.
Given the growing popularity of over-the-top and media streaming platforms, the Film City is also envisioned as a data centre with pre- and post-production infrastructure.
Last February, the state cabinet approved the new UP Film Policy 2023 with provisions applicable to films produced in the proposed hub.
It promised a 50 per cent subsidy on the cost of films made in local dialects of Awadhi, Braj, Bundeli or Bhojpuri. For films in English, Hindi or other languages, the subsidy will be 25 per cent.
A subsidy of 25 per cent or maximum Rs 50 lakh would be offered for setting up studios/labs in the state. If studios/labs are set up in the relatively backward Purvanchal, Vindhyachal and Bundelkhand regions, the subsidy would be 35 percent with a ceiling of Rs 50 lakh.
For films logging at least half of shoot days in UP, the subsidy would be to a maximum of Rs 1 crore.
