CM clears 150-acre Sahara film city

MUMBAI: The Sahara group has got an''in principle'' approval from chief minister Sushilkumar Shinde to build a''world-class'' film city spread across 150 acres of land smack next to thegovernment owned Film City in Goregaon.The proposed complex is tohave state-of-the-art pre- and post-production facilities, digital multicamerashooting equipment, nonlinear editing suites, sound recording and mixingstudios, preview theatres, animation facilities and several outdoor locations.Film luminaries have in the past expressed dissatisfaction with the existingfacilities at the Goregaon complex which, ironically, was the brain-child ofShinde in his earlier avatar as culture minister.Senior executivesfrom Sahara, V B Chandra and O P Dixit, had a meeting with Shinde and seniorofficials from the state government to discuss the project. Following this,Sahara group chairman Subrata Roy wrote to the chief minister thanking him "forhaving agreed, in principle, to allot about 100 to 150 acres of land adjoiningFilmCity in Goregaon (east) which is lying vacant".That the project, which awaits afinal nod from the Democratic Front government, enjoys the support of the CM wasapparent from Roy''s letter, which referred to the encouragement the proposal hadreceived from Shinde. "Ever since you encouraged us to go ahead with thisproject," the Sahara chief wrote, "we have been working on its details incollaboration with a number of renowned organisations all over the world and arenow ready to start the project without losing any time."The matterseems to have acquired urgency since the code of conduct for the forthcomingassembly elections is likely to come into force soon, after which no policydecisions can be taken.Roy has assured Shinde that the existinggovernment-owned Film City will not be disturbed in any way by the project. Hehas sought 200 acres on a 99-year lease, 50 acres more than what has been agreedto in principle by the CM.Shinde was not available forcomment, but Dixit confirmed that the Sahara group was awaiting final allotmentof the land. According to Sahara, several film personalities including RaveenaTandon, Mahima Chaudhary, Urmila Matondkar, Govind Nihalani and Jabbar Patel hadwelcomed its initiative.The project encourages producers to "walk inwith a bound script and walk out with a release print".When the cityis commissioned, it is also expected to host an annual international film andvideo festival besides housing an international film club, an academy of filmand TVarts and anopen air auditorium.