Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal has announced that there will be a single window clearance for Indian filmmakers for smooth shooting of films. While presenting the Interim Budget for 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha, he said:
“Entertainment industry is a major employment generator. To promote the entertainment industry, there will be single window clearance to ease shooting of films. This was earlier available only to foreigners [and] is now going to be made available to Indian filmmakers as well.”Piyush Goyal, Interim Finance Minister
Goyal also said that the government will include anti-camcording provisions in the Cinematography Act to control piracy.
Siddharth Roy Kapur, President of the Producers Guild of India has welcomed the news saying,
“We are delighted that the immense contribution of Indian cinema towards employment generation in the country has been acknowledged and applauded in Parliament during the presentation of the Union Budget. The announcement of a single-window clearance mechanism for Indian filmmakers filming within India is a significant step and has the potential to play a huge role in boosting tourism in the country. The amendments in the anti-camcording provisions will support the industry’s growth by curtailing illegal recordings of films in cinema halls and will go a long way towards reducing piracy.”Siddharth Roy Kapur, Producer
In late December 2018, several Bollywood producers and actors — including Ritesh Sidhwani, Karan Johar, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Rakesh Roshan, Ronnie Screwwala and chairman of the Prasoon Joshi Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn — met PM Modi to discuss issues pertaining to the entertainment industry.
Shortly after the meeting, the government announced a reduction of GST on cinema tickets, a move that was praised by the industry.
This was followed by another instance this January where Modi met with a delegation of young Bollywood celebs such as Ranveer Singh, Vicky Kaushal, Alia Bhatt, Ayushmann Khurrana and Varun Dhawan.
(With inputs from IANS)
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