Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said the northern state is not desirous of taking away the film business out of Mumbai.
However, it is an open competition and the one who gives the right atmosphere and security in which talent can work will get the investments, he told reporters here.
Ahead of his visit to the financial capital, ruling Congress in Maharashtra had alleged a conspiracy to snatch away the city’s film city to UP, and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had vowed not to allow anybody to “forcibly” take away businesses.
“We are not snatching or hindering anyones investments,” Adityanath said.
“No one can take anything along. It is not like a purse which gets taken away. This is an open competition. One who can give a safe atmosphere, better facilities – and especially social security – in which one can work without discrimination will get investments, he added.
Responding to Sena MP Sanjay Rauts assertion that replicating the film city in other city is a tall task, Adityanath said, “weve not come here to take away anything.” “We are creating something new. Why are you getting concerned? We are giving a new world class infrastructure to all. Hence, everybody will have to grow up, widen his thinking and better facilities will have to be given. One who is able to do that will get the people, he added.
Adityanath said he met experts from Bollywood, including directors, producers and actors to seek their suggestions for the upcoming film city in Noida which will be spread across 1,000 acres.
He added that it is not a ‘pick and choose’ approach which has been adopted by his government and added that specific sectoral policies have been created with long term view in mind and such meetings help them improvise on the same.
The UP CM said the Noida film city will be located six km away from the upcoming international airport at Jewar and added this will be well connected with Delhi, Agra and Mathura.
The UP chief minister interacted with a Bollywood delegation in an hour-long meeting held at the Trident Hotel in south Mumbai’s Nariman Point area.
According to filmmaker Rahul Mittra, who was present at the meeting, those present included filmmakers Boney Kapoor, Manmohan Shetty, Jayantilal Gada, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Anil Sharma, Honey Trehan and Umesh Shukla.
Among the actors, the attendees included Arjun Rampal, Satish Kaushik and Ravi Kishan, who’s also BJP’s Lok Sabha MP.
“Yogi ji told us let it not be just a government project, let the government and the film industry collaborate and make a world-class Film City. He shared his vision of how he intends to build it, broadly outlining the area and facilities that will be there,” Mittra told PTI.
“He was clear that this would be built with our suggestions and collaboration. Today’s meeting was the beginning of the engagement. I appreciate him reaching out to us and seeking our support for his vision,” Mittra said.
A film producer who attended the meeting told PTI that they were shown a presentation regarding filming in Uttar Pradesh but no concrete decision was taken.
“The presentation was about Uttar Pradesh and about what it is famous for. They are planning to construct a film city on 1000 acre land but nothing concrete was decided yet.
Our suggestions were taken, that’s it,” the producer said.
