REMAPPING
UTTAR PRADESH
THE UP government has been at it again. Launching into high
drive, and virtually moving the state capital to Mumbai for
a couple of days, the CM and his team have been talking to the
city’s businessmen and industrialists, including the filmfolk.
The reason? Well, what else but to get them to invest in the
state.
For the cash-strapped but enterprising UP government, clearly
this is desperation time. Sops are being handed down afresh
in a no-holds-barred bid to woo investments.
But ought our filmfolk to listen? Especially now when UP’s
lost a sizeable chunk of its territory to Uttaranchal? Any way
you look at it, UP’s bound to be badly hit by the split.
Consider these facts:
*** A major chunk of UP’s most picturesque locales, ideal
shoot-spots for our filmfolk have now moved to Uttaranchal.
Question is: does UP have any right to trot out the names of
these spots as its own any more?
**** Uttaranchal may have only 10 per cent of UP’s area,
but it’s home to only 8-9 million out of a whopping 160
million in the parent state.
*** Uttaranchal is clearly the golden goose in terms of tourism,
forest produce and the like. The region’s holy shrines,
Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath and resorts like
Nainital and Mussoorie attract 83 million tourists each year.
That accounts for a sizeable Rs. 1900 crore revenue annually
from tourism, out of Rs 5750 crore earned by UP.
*** Six of UP’s seven national parks will now come under
Uttaranchal’s jurisdiction. That’s 6 per cent of the
total forest cover of 17 per cent in the state.
*** Power tariff, recently revised in UP, will soon see another
hike by the looks of it. That seems almost inevitable, for with
the three riverheads of Ganga, Yamuna and Sharada coming under
Uttaranchal, it will become the source of 1000 MW of hydropower
resources. When CM Gupta talks of making power available to
filmdom at the industrial rates, he’s still talking of
the pre-split scenario. Is the industry prepared for another
major hike in power tariff now?
*** Despite the attractions of Uttaranchal’s tourist spots,
the fiscal outlook for the new state is hardly encouraging.
Its essentially-hilly terrain is still vastly under-developed
and has little to offer by way of infrastructure for film units.
*** Nainital, once a hot spot for film crews, is now the popular
choice for the new state capital. Land prices are thus likely
to shoot up here and more construction activity is forecast
for the city.
TRITE, HOLLOW PROMISES
THE state government’s brochure, announcing its new
film policy in 1999 read thus: “The spirit of hospitality
is legendary. Innumerable Indian and international films have
been shot in UP and the film units have had an excellent experience
with the local people as far as law and order is concerned.
The state will continue the tradition of hospitality and provide
adequate security to filmmakers shooting in UP.”
In the wake of what happened to the units of Deepa Mehta’s
Water and Zee’s Sunny-Deol, Amisha Patel starrer, Gadar,
the promises have a hollow ring to them. Where was the state’s
“legendary” hospitality and the “adequate security”
when both units ran up huge losses following shoot disruptions?
Evidently, all these promises that seemed so attractive then,
existed only on paper. In reality, UP came across as a soft
state, pandering to the whims of hooligans and arsonists, while
the film units were offered neither security nor compensation.
Now that the state government has come up with fresh incentives
and sops, a question that’s bound to plague the minds of
filmmakers is: can the government be believed this time? At
least as a token of remorse, the state would have done well
to announce some compensation to the two units. That would have
added a measure of credibility to its latest claims. Who’s
to tell if history will not repeat itself in future?
Hazy, Incomplete picture
Of course, no one’s denying that UP deserves a fresh chance.
Considering its natural bounties, the state is still under-utilised
as a locale for film shoots.
In its efforts to woo filmmakers and film entrepreneurs, the
government would have done well to allay the industry’s
misgivings. The publicity blitz launched by the state hardly
refers to the question of Uttaranchal. Neither does it promise
to make amends for the serious lapses in security during recent
film shoots.
Tell us then, Mr Gupta, why would anyone listen to you?
Shaju
George Alex |
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