Film city in West Bengal to be ready this year

Kolkata: A state-of-the-art integrated film city, which will also house an amusement park, will be thrown open for filmmakers and tourists later this year in West Midnapore district. Planned as a one-stop destination for filmmakers, Prayag Film City is spread over a sprawling campus of 2,700 acres at Chandrakona, 165 km away from the hustle and bustle of Kolkata.

Although it will take another 4-5 years to complete the Rs 1000-crore film city, the first phase of the ambitious project will be completed in the next few months after which it will be thrown open for the film industry. "Not only the Bengali film industry, we will be even inviting Bollywood to shoot here as we will be catering to every aspect of filmmaking," Avik Bagchi, managing director of Prayag Group, said. With sound-proof studio floors, permanent outdoor/indoor sets, artificially created landscapes, digital colour lab and dubbing studios, all modern filmmaking infrastructure facilities, including pre and post production work, can be done at the film city. For outdoor shoot locations, a helipad, railway station with bogies, golf course, swimming pool, water bodies, tree-house, restaurants, cottages, manicured parks, etc are being built. Not leaving out the small screen behind, there will be special zones for television programmes and reality shows. "Qualified and experienced technicians will be there to handle all the work and assist film-makers," Bagchi said. The film city is designed by eminent Bollywood art director Nitish Roy, who had also designed the famed Ramoji Film City at Hyderabad. Even as the construction work is going on in full swing at the project site, they have already started shooting for their home production film `Jole Jongole`. With the help of advanced digital technology and special effects they have created a first-of-its-kind 60-foot-long crocodile, which is being used in the Bengali thriller film. City-based Prayag group, which has multiple business interests in hotels and infrastructure industry, are also targeting tourists in a big way by providing visitors with world-class hospitality and entertainment options. "The main idea is to keep films as the centre of attraction for tourists," the company official said. The sprawling compound will have as many as 110 architectural wonders of the world, preview theatre, thematic water parks, food courts, fine dining restaurants, luxury and budget hotels. The amusement park will be a complete family entertainment zone with thrilling rides, fun-packed water games, restaurants, landscaped gardens, ghost house and a museum. Inside the `Filmi Dunia` zone, visitors can watch and participate in mock shooting sessions. The company also has long-term plans to have a film and a hospitality institute on the premises, Bagchi said. PTI