Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Tuesday expressed confidence that the proposed Film City in the state will live up to the expectations of the industry as he met Bollywood celebrities including actor Anupam Kher and singer Udit Narayan to discuss the project.
Addressing members of the Hindi film industry, the chief minister called Uttar Pradesh a
“cultural centre” of the country, which not only shares borders with seven other states but also a neighbouring country, Nepal.
He said the state had somehow failed to meet the expectations of the film industry so far, but this “shortcoming” will be overcome through the proposed film city in Noida.
The Indian cinema gets a new stage, that’s the need of the hour, he said at the meeting, according to a tweet by his office.
“The state government will extend full support to it. There should be Indianness in our minds. We don’t have to keep ourselves away from it (Indianness). If we work with this mindset, the UP government will extend full support,” he added.
Udit Narayan sings ‘Mitwa’ at meet
Playback singer Udit Narayan sang his hit song ‘Mitwa’ from Bollywood movie Lagaan during the meeting.
Journalist Saurabh Sharma posted a 35-second clip on Twitter of the singer performing a few lines from the song.
Singer @RealUditNarayan sings a song in praise of @myogiadityanath during the meeting of setting up a film city chaired by the UP CM today in Lucknow.
Video source: An officer who was present in the meeting pic.twitter.com/uhX4vUi4Le— Saurabh Sharma (@Saurabhsherry) September 22, 2020
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‘Film city will become the identity of India’
Besides Kher and Udit Narayan, other personalities who attended the meeting included director-producer Satish Kaushik, singers Kailash Kher and Anup Jalota, and lyricist Manoj Muntashir.
While some of them attended the meeting through video-conferencing, others joined the CM at his office. Officials from the state’s Film Bandhu department, and Uttar Pradesh Film Development Council Chairperson Raju Srivastav were also present.
Inviting the industry to come and make films in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi said the state is the central point of Indian culture and his government has improved connectivity.
The CM said the area identified for developing the new film city is in the vicinity of Hastinapur of Raja Bharat. This film city would become the identity of India in time to come, he said.
Adityanath said it would just not be a film city alone, but a world-class electronic city will come up there, with a financial city proposed there too. A world-class airport is coming up on 5,000 acres in Jewar area, he added.
Authorities in Gautam Buddh Nagar Monday sent two proposals to the UP government to set up the film city either in Noida or along the Yamuna Expressway.
The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) has earmarked 1,000 acres and the Noida Authority has identified 500 acres.
On 18 September, Adityanath announced his government would set up the country’s “biggest” and “most beautiful” film city in the district bordering Delhi and asked officials to identify land for it.
Akhilesh Yadav’s accusation
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav Tuesday accused the Yogi Adityanath government of taking credit for a project initiated by his government.
In a tweet, he said the BJP’s “flop movie” is about to be “taken off”, saying the charm of its “actors and acting” has worn off. Akhilesh served as UP’s chief minister between 2012 and 2017.
अब सपा काल की ‘फ़िल्म सिटी’ का श्रेय लेने के लिए प्रदेश की भाजपा सरकार कैंची लेकर फ़ीता काटने को तैयार खड़ी है पर अब न तो उनके अभिनेता का अभिनय काम आ रहा है, न ही कोई डॉयलाग. उनकी फ़्लाप पिक्चर उतरनेवाली है क्योंकि प्रदेश की असली तस्वीर बनाने वालों की एडवांस बुकिंग हो गयी है.
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) September 22, 2020
Two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed in 2015, when the Samajwadi Party was in power, for setting up film cities in the state.
While one was proposed along the Lucknow-Agra Expressway by Purple Seas group, with technical support provided by the Government of Japan, the other was to be developed near Unnao by Bhojpuri film star Ravi Kishan, now a BJP MP.
An investment of Rs 650 crore was estimated to be made in the two projects.
(with inputs from PTI)
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