JUST 12 days before the Municipal Corporation polls, local MP Kirron Kher has written a letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley requesting him to grant funds in the next financial year for setting up a film institute in Chandigarh. In her letter ,she has mentioned that Chandigarh is a city of educational institutions and the entire northern Indian belt is devoid of any institute that would teach and skill young aspirants in the craft of film making.
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She has written that Chandigarh caters to people from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The film industry in Punjab is thriving and yet people who apply to FTII in Pune do not get admission as the seats are limited. Some great talent never realises its potential as it cannot get the requisite training.
Kher has been saying that she is trying to bring a hi-tech film institute in Chandigarh ever since she got elected as MP. She claims that Chandigarh has tremendous untapped potential to set up a film institute to cater to the Punjabi and Bollywood film industry.
“Presently, the directors have to go all the way to Mumbai to get sound mixing, editing, dubbing, special effects and other processes done to get the final output. So, if we have a full-fledged film institute in Chandigarh, it would save the directors from a lot of transportation costs and booking troubles. Further, it will boost Chandigarh`s economy by creating huge employment as it will also bring Chandigarh on national and global map as a preferred filming and shooting destination,” she said.
“We would really be happy if Chandigarh gets a film institute because we feel that the one in Pune doesn’t have enough seats. Chandigarh has got a lot of potential,” she told Chandigarh Newsline.
Kher’s husband Anupam Kher runs ‘Actor Prepares’, which is said to be “India’s finest acting school for talented individuals who wish to pursue careers as actors and writers in the entertainment industry”. On the conflict of interest, the MP said, “My husband runs an acting school. This [the one she is demanding] is like the Film and Television Institute in Pune. This is run by the government — completely different.”
The Chandigarh Administration has demanded around Rs 6,100 crore — Rs 4,500 crore under non-plan head and Rs 1,600 under plan head — from the Central government for the next financial year. In the current financial year, the Central government had allocated Rs 3,534 crore — Rs 700 crore under plan head and Rs 2,834 crore under non-plan head — against the demand for Rs 2,095 crore under plan head and Rs 3,237 crore under non-plan head.