Other States - New Delhi   

Guidelines on shooting foreign films liberalised

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JUNE 11. As part of its endeavour to turn India into an entertainment hub, the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry yesterday liberalised the guidelines for shooting foreign feature films and coproductions in the country, and decided to give the International Film Festival of India a permanent address in Goa.

The liberalised guidelines have been put in place after consultations with various Ministries. Announcing this here, the I&B Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said that proposals to shoot foreign feature films or coproductions in India would now be cleared within three weeks.

While the time to process such proposals will come down from three months to three weeks, clearance of requests for shooting in Jammu and Kashmir, the North-Eastern States and the border areas will take longer. The Ministry was open to extending this relaxed regime to Pakistan, but given the security considerations, requests from that country would be taken up on a case-to-case basis; again, provided there was an element of reciprocity.

Under the new regime, the existing requirement of showing the completed film before its release anywhere to representatives of the Government or any of the country's diplomatic missions overseas will apply to only exceptional cases.

Also, visas to enter the country for shooting a film will be de-linked from script clearance. Unlike in the past when I&B Ministry's approval was required, visas will be issued for this purpose as per a normal procedure. Like the visa relaxation for film shooting, the decision to anchor the IFFI in Goa has been on the cards for over a year now. While Mr. Prasad said as much at Cannes last month, his predecessor, Sushma Swaraj, too had dropped several hints to this effect over the past year. However, an announcement was made only today after the Key Advisory Group on Entertainment in the Ministry gave the green signal during the day.

Stating that all prominent international film festivals had a permanent address, Mr. Prasad said the Goa international festival would be tailored along the lines of Cannes and other big names in the circuit. Despite harbouring grand plans, both Mr. Prasad and the Goa Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, dodged questions on the estimated cost of the project.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Cong. plans stir against power tariff hike
• Brothers thrashed to death
• Guidelines on shooting foreign films liberalised
• Terrorist's aide nabbed
• A `breakthrough' in curbing domestic violence
• AirTel subscriber bags a Merc
• Postal dept. held guilty
• Delhi Assembly earns a rare distinction

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu