Former Chief Minister Arjun Munda fired a salvo at the State Government on Thursday, saying the Jharkhand Film Shooting Regulation-2015, recently approved by the Cabinet, sounds death knell for the regional and tribal
film-makers.
He has shot off a letter to Chief Minister Raghubar Das, pointing out that the regulations were apparently prepared in haste without taking the ground realities into consideration. “Moreover, it also appears that local film producers were not taken into confidence while preparing the draft related to the regulation,” he has pointed out.
According to the regulation, a minimum fee of Rs50 lakh has been fixed for shooting for a period of one week in the State while an additional Rs10 lakh will be charged per day if they want to extend the shooting further beyond a week. Munda further alleged that the interest of local regional and tribal film producers have completely been bypassed and it appears that the regulation was being implemented only to make profit from the big banners.
He further stated, “The recently formed Tribal Advisory Council must also have been taken into confidence, calling them into the meetings and involving them into the policy making as well.”
Munda added that if the regulation is implemented in the State, future of local films produced in Jharkhand will go completely into dark, putting a curb on regional and tribal films produced within the state as their overall budget of any film did not exceed more than 5-10 lakh.
Calling it an attack on the tribals’ natural rights to capture the State’s natural beauty, the former Chief Minister said that it will not be justified for the people of this state to charge any fee for shooting the natural beauty in the heartlands of Jharkhand.
“Rather than promoting the local film producers to make more and more films, the Government intends to discourage them by charging heavy amount as fees which was beyond their reach,” stated Munda.
“The Government must also focus on increasing financial activities in the State which will further provide more avenues for the local youths in the form of employment; more films also mean more revenue for the State exchequer,” stated Munda, adding that the tribals are upset with the Government move.
The former CM also advised Das that in spite of adopting the Rajasthan model, it will be more appropriate to adopt the Uttar Pradesh model related to film regulations where financial support is provided by the Government for shooting any film in the State.