Rajasthan's film policy to give boost to film production in the state

The Rajasthan Film Tourism Promotion Policy 2022 which has been approved by the state Cabinet is likely to give a boost to film production in the state. Rajasthan has for the past 75 years attracted film producers who came to the state to shoot films with its fort, palaces, sanctuaries and desert.

Over 200 Bollywood movies that include epics such as Mughal-E Azam, Leader, Paheli, Jodha Akbar, Rang De Basanti, Jab We Met, Razia Sultan, Bajirao Mastani, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and in recent time Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Bol Bachchan, Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ramleela, Highway at Bikaner are among the few to name which were shot in Jaipur and in various destinations of Rajasthan.

Jaipur and Jodhpur in the past have attracted Hollywood producers to shoot their movies and also various other destinations in the state.

In recent time The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, made records on the box office after Octopussy, a James Bond thriller that was shot in Udaipur and was a super hit. A number of famous Hollywood movies shot in Rajasthan are Shakespeare Wallah, at City Palace, Alwar; The Jungle Book (1994), at Mehrangarh Fort; The Jewel in the Crown, at Udaipur; The Deceivers, Heat and Dust, The Far Pavilions (all at Jaipur); Octopussy at Udaipur; Siddhartha, at Deeg; Sonar Kella, at Jaisalmer; Autobiography of a Princes, at Jodhpur; Das Wilde Leben, at Jaipur; Holy Smoke, at Jaipur; Kama Sutra at Jaipur and at Pushkar; Darjeeling Limited at Jodhpur. Rajasthan is definitely the most popular destination for Hollywood films in India.

The award-winning movie The Warrior (2001), starring Irrfan Khan, and Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair (2004), starring Reese Witherspoon, were shot in the beautiful locales of Rajasthan. One Night with the King (2006) starring Omar Sharif had its plot based in the Middle East and the deserts of Rajasthan were found the best alternative to Gulf sands.

The Fall (2007) by Tarsem Singh stunningly captured the beauty of Jodhpur, Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, starring Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman, was shot in the Palace on Wheels and may well have influenced many Westerners to take a trip around Rajasthan on this luxury train. Salman Khan’s first international project, Marigold (2007) co-starring Ali Larter and directed by Willard Carol was shot at Jodhpur and the famous Khimsar Fort bordering the Thar Desert.

The state’s film policy has been put under the tourism department and the film tourism policy aims to have provisions that will provide financial assistance, awards, and cash incentives.

According to a senior tourism department official, the policy will not only encourage the shooting of Bollywood, Hollywood, and other language films but would also encourage producers to make Rajasthani language films. The state government will give incentives in terms of cash on the basis of the actual films showing or depicting Rajasthan's destination. The production of the Rajasthani films which has a small, but strong market suffered in recent years because of a lack of support from the state government. Meanwhile. the Gujarati film industry flourished with financial grants from the Gujarat government. The Rajasthan government would also create a special package for the Rajasthani language film.

Films always bring in tourists and it’s a good medium to publicize the state’s attributes as a tourist destination.

The state on an average gets about a dozen Bollywood films in a year that are shot at various locations in Rajasthan. The Covid pandemic did disturb the shooting schedules, but now it's back to normal. The ideal season for shooting in the state is from October to March-end. But in recent times producers with the development of technology are shooting in the desert even during the summer too.

But the state earlier had no policy for giving incentives to shoot films in the state, though the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) did give incentives for shooting on the luxury train, Palace On Wheels.

But ever since Uttar Pradesh started offering incentives to film producers for shooting in various locations particularly Lucknow, Varanasi, NOIDA, Jhansi, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, a number of producers started shooting the film in Uttar Pradesh. The Uttar Pradesh film policy offers anything between Rs 50 lakh to Rs one crore for movies shot in Uttar Pradesh.

Rajasthan was a bit late in formulating its film policy. The state found that it was films like Mughal-E Azam, Jodha Akbar, and Satyajit Ray’s Sonar Kella that helped the state boost its tourism.

Rajasthan’s film tourism policy would have different offerings for various categories of films. The incentives will be different for a Bollywood movie than a Hollywood movie and a purely regional movie. The incentives would be on the screen time given by the film to the state and accordingly, the producers would get the incentives.