Shoot more in UP to get more government subsidy

The UP government has made changes in the existing film policy according to which, the number of days a film is shot in the state will determine the amount of subsidy it gets from the government.
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Earlier, if 50% of a film was shot in UP, it was given a subsidy of `1 crore. Now, the same amount of subsidy will be given if the filmmaker spends 50% of the total number of dates allotted to shooting, canning the film in UP .A subsidy of `2 crore will be awarded in case the shooting in UP accounts for 75% of the total number of days the film was shot.
According to Navneet Sehgal, principal secretary , department of Information and Public Relations for the state, “Yes, we have made minor changes in the film policy . It was getting difficult for us to calculate the subsidy based on the percentage that a film was shot in the state. So we changed that to the total number of days a film is shot here. Whatever expenditure filmmakers do in UP , that will be considered for subsidy now.“
How will that affect filmmaking in UP? Dicky Singh, a line producer in Lucknow who helps coordinate film shoots here, says, “The government's friendly film policy has already encouraged filmmakers to shoot their movies in UP . The amendment is a very smart move by the government. The more a production house stays in the state for shooting, the more they will spend here, whether it's on their hotel stay , taxi rentals or anything else. This will get people more business.“
However, Sudhanshu Savant, another line producer from Lucknow, thinks otherwise. “I think it is going to create more confusion. Who will verify the exact days of shoot? A filmmaker might stay longer here, but might complete the major part of a film's shoot in some other location. People can make false claims for subsidy ,“ he avers.
Sameer Rizvi, who is shooting his film in the city these days, says the revision of sub sidy rules is not going to af fect filmmakers looking to shoot in the state. “Kitna par kahan shoot hua hai, it' clearly visible in the film One can't make false claims i the days are the basis of sub sidy,“ he adds. The government also pro vides incentives to filmmak ers to return to UP to shoot their film. If the filmmaker t shoots four times in the state, s he can avail subsidy of `2.5 . crore on his fourth film. And f if he comes to shoot a fifth film here, the subsidy provided to him will be increased to Rs 2.75 crores.
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