Central Railway earns over Rs. 1 crore from film shoots
(Sourced from PTI)
The Central Railway (CR) has earned over Rs. 1 crore in the last financial year 2017-18 by renting its various premises and rail coaches for film shootings, an official said on Wednesday. During the financial year 2017-18, around 16 films, including advertisements, a web series, and documentaries, were shot at different CR locations by various filmmakers and production houses. Here's more.
The CR earned Rs. 15.32 lakh from the shooting of the film "Gully Boy" (starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt) at the Wadi Bunder yard in South Mumbai, said CR's Chief Public Relations Officer Sunil Udasi.
"It (Gully Boy) was one of the highest revenue generating film. Thanks to our few popular stations, like the old Wadi Bunder yard near Sandhurst Road station, the Apta station (in Panvel), the Central Railway earned a good revenue," Udasi said. The earnings from film shootings during 2017-18 crossed over Rs. 1 crore, while in 2016-17 it was Rs. 73.93 lakh, he said.
"We earned 36.43% more revenue in the last financial year," Udasi said. Besides "Gully Boy", the Central Railway earned Rs. 14.5 lakh from a cola advertisement film shoot at Wathar station near Satara district, and Rs. 7 lakh from the shooting of the film "Jalebi: Circle of Love" at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai, he said.
Commenting on the upsurge in revenue generation through movie shoots, Udasi said the Central Railway has taken an initiative to grant permissions without any hassles to the production houses. The Maharashtra cabinet had also last week approved a single window system to grant permission to those wanting to shoot films, television program, serials, commercials and documentaries on government land.
"We have introduced a single-window system to grant permission for the shooting of films and ads, and this way the processing time of applications by filmmakers has reduced," Udasi said. "Earlier it used to take around 15 days, but now filmmakers get permission within a week even there is a requirement for rolling stock (rail coaches)," the official added.
