TCA Kalyani, Joint Secretary (Films), Ministry of I&B, and MD, NFDC, Government of India said the country is open for business and filming for global studios and producers.

Even as over fifty countries across the world have announced resumption of film shooting with safety protocols, India has announced that once there will be normalcy in resumption of international travel, film shooting permissions will be accorded to global filmmakers to shoot in India with standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Participating in the e-panel discussion as part of the India@Cannes 2020 on the topic of ‘Come, Film in India’, TCA Kalyani, Joint Secretary (Films), Ministry of I&B, and MD, NFDC, Government of India said India is open for business and filming for global studios and producers.

“We will release Standard Operating Procedure for film shoots and other related works in the country, later this week,” said Kalyani.

Many Indian states including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala have permitted film shooting with guidelines on safety protocols.

In an attempt to woo global filmmakers, Indian government is ready with an incentive package for film shoots and co-production under the champion sector scheme.

Given the crisis the country is going through in the wake of Covid-19, the announcement will be made at the appropriate time. “We are ready with the incentive package. We are waiting for the appropriate time to announce,” stated Kalyani.

Kalyani confirmed that in addition to films, Web Series and Television Series will be included in the incentive package for co-production and film shooting when Michael E Ward, film producer specifically asked the question.

Kalyani said over 118 international films have been shot in the last four years and government has been offering all support to filmmakers to shoot in India and the country has a lot to offer to filmmakers from across the world.

The session, moderated by journalist Naman Ramachandran, was also attended by Vikramjit Roy, Head, Flm Facilitation Office, NFDC; Nitin Jawale, IAS, Managing Director, IPICOL and OFDC, Government of Odisha; Michael E Ward, film producer, Pravesh Sahni, ITOPS Film Production Pvt Ltd (line produced White Tiger in India) and Dileep Singh Rathore of On the Road India (line produced Christopher Nolan’s Tenet in India).

Vikramjit Roy listed out various initiatives of the government to make filmmaking easy in India. He said the Film Facilitation Office was set up with the sole aim to help filmmakers to obtain various permissions without facing any difficulty. The FFO is going all out to ensure that foreign filmmakers don’t face any hassle while shooting their movies in the country.

Jawale said Odisha is a beautiful state where filmmakers can find exotic locales to shoot their scripts. He spoke about initiatives by his department to facilitate film shoots in the state.

Michael E Ward appreciated the government of India for taking proactive measures to attract global filmmakers.

Line producer Rathore said they had shot Christopher Nolan’s Tenet (for Warner Bros’) in Mumbai and it was only possible because they got the permissions in time from the state government of Maharashtra and facilitation from FFO.

“We were super happy with the coordination and facilitation provided by Film Facilitation Office set-up by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. It’s best of the facilitations one could get for a film shoot. We are thankful to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India and the co-ordinators at FFO.” said Rathore.