Bengaluru: It’s been 40 years since former chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde promised a film city in Karnataka. Hegde had in 1980 proposed to set up the project at Hesaraghatta in Bengaluru but it continues to remain on paper.
That is little consolation for Sandalwood, as the Kannada film industry is known, which despite being one of the lesser known film entities in the country has earned some plaudits.
Since its inception in 1954, Sandalwood has earned 60 national awards, and while Bollywood is the bulwark of film production in India, the Kannada film industry made box-office collections of around Rs 520 crore in the 2019-20 fiscal.
For production and shooting, however, the Kannada film industry relies heavily on film cities such as the Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad and other smaller movie studios in Mumbai and Chennai.
But industry stakeholders say the need for their very own film city was never more acute than now, that is during the pandemic. “Sandalwood has suffered losses of nearly Rs 1,000 crore due to the pandemic,” Gubbi Jairaj, president of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC), told ThePrint.
Others from the industry said travel restrictions and Covid protocols have resulted in massive logistical issues.
Covid-19 has now prompted the industry to approach the BJP government in the state to push through the proposal.
On 9 September, a KFCC delegation led by Kannada superstar Shivarajkumar held a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan on the need to re-energise the Kannada film industry and the need for GST subsidies, and remove red-tape for future projects. The film city was part of the discussions.
“We did appeal to the government on setting up the film city as soon as possible. We will abide by the decision taken by them,” Gubbi told ThePrint. “We have impressed upon them that producers have been incurring heavy losses and the need to travel to other states to shoot in studios.”
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An industry demand
According to Sunil Puranik, chairman of the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, Sandalwood’s annual turnover is around Rs 1,000-Rs 1,500 crore. Apart from films, it produces a number of television shows too.
Puranik said the industry does have Kanteerava Studios in Bengaluru but that it is not up to the mark. “It does not have up-to-date facilities or the modern setting needed for movies of today,” he said.
This, according to Puranik, has led to TV crews heading to Hyderabad to shoot at the Ramoji Film City. Puranik said the Kannada film industry produces close to 300-400 films a year, and if the film city is set up, producers can save anywhere between Rs 25 crore and Rs 50 crore per film that is spent on location, studio charges and miscellaneous expenses. “Due to Covid, this year we may see only 200 to 250 movies released,” he added.
According to Gubbi, a film city will also generate employment and revenue for local people. “It’s not just the money saved,” he said. “Setting up the film city will also help promote tourism. It will benefit the state in many ways. If we have a modern or even futuristic set-up, we could generate money with other states using our facilities.”
Puranik also pointed out that people pay Rs 200 to enter Ramoji Film City and watch film shootings. “We could generate the same curiosity among travellers and visitors and help the industry.”
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From Hedge to no film city
Successive Karnataka chief ministers have revisited Hegde’s plan to build a “world class film city”.
Then Congress chief minister S.M. Krishna had in 1999 proposed that the film city would come up in Hesaraghatta, as originally planned.
Nearly a decade and a half later, in 2015, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government proposed to set it up at Ratnapuri, on the outskirts of Mysuru.
By 2019, plans changed again. Then chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who was heading the Congress-JDS coalition, announced that the film city would come up in Kanakapura, which borders his constituency Ramanagaram.
The decision led to tensions between Siddaramaiah and Kumaraswamy. Siddaramaiah urged Kumaraswamy not to shift the Film City stating that “it was the wish of legendary actor Dr Rajkumar to set it up in Mysuru”.
Kumaraswamy, however, did not budge.
After the coalition fell, the B.S. Yediyurappa government announced in September 2019 to build it at the famous Tataguni Estate in Bengaluru, which belonged to eminent painter Svetoslav Roerich and the “first lady of Indian cinema”, Devika Rani.
The proposal, however, was shelved after environmentalists raised concerns about it being an “eco-sensitive zone”.
After four-and-a-half decades later, the BJP government has allocated 150 acres of land in Hesaraghatta, for the original film city to be built.
According to Deputy CM Ashwath Narayan, several environmental factors had to be considered before the final proposal could be realised.
“There were several environmental factors that we had to take into consideration. That is why the plan changed from Tataguni Estate to Hesaraghatta,” Narayan told ThePrint.
But the environmental problems persist. Activists have raised concerns about the proposal on the grounds that Hesaraghatta is part of a fragile ecosystem and “should be preserved at any cost”.
“This is one of the last remaining grasslands in Bengaluru,” conservationist Joseph Hoover told ThePrint. “The area near Hesaraghatta lake is the home of many migratory birds. The government has so many other places to choose from. Let them leave this, one of the few lung spaces that we have, alone.”
‘Lack of political will’
Kannada film directors and producers, meanwhile, said there needs to be “political will” if the government is serious about setting up the film city.
“Proposals are one thing but political will is another,” said actor-turned-politician Prakash Raj. “The governments don’t seem to have intent. Isn’t it clear by the way they (the government) have been tossing the idea around for so many years? The industry creates employment. It only shows that the idea of setting up a film city is a political gimmick.”
Raj added that the government should be ashamed about the way it has been treating the film community. “They expect us to pay taxes. We bring in crores in terms of income, yet they want us to beg for something that we rightfully deserve? We are an industry that has great talent, and such actions disappoint us,” he said.
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