Film shoots add Rs 91 lakh to CR kitty

Movies and advertisements have filled many a kitty to the brim and this time, it's the Central Railway's turn to dance to the tune of money. For the first time ever, the earnings from film shoots at CR premises has touched Rs 91 lakh in just three months -- from April to June -- as opposed to Rs 17 lakh earned during the same time last year.

The total earnings from shoots for 2012 was Rs 1.07 crore.

Smooth journey
The CR has dedicated a special window that is commonly referred to as one-window-clearance for film shooting permissions. The new system was started last year for clear and quick procedures to the film shooting staff. However, the railway authorities first read the script and then decide on the green signal. "Its not like we give permission to shoot every proposal. After reading the script, if we find it to be creating a bad image of the railways, we reject it. We did not give permissions for RGV's film on 26/11 and a few scenes of RA.one etc," said A K Singh, PRO, CR.

There are procedures that the production house has to follow before getting the permission from the railways.

For this the railways require insurance of Rs 5 crore, an agreement, an indemnity bond and an original script of the film. "Without these documents, we don't accept the procedure. Though as per our new rule, the permission is supposed to be given within three days of the submissions," added Singh.

A special team has been assigned for the single-window-clearance. These teams also accompany the film shooting staff to avoid any hassles from GRP or RPF.u00a0

Since April this year, 10 film and advertisements have been shot on CR premises including films and ads like Mumbai Indians, Airtel, Once upon a time in Mumbai Again, Gori Tere Pyar me, Dedh Ishkiya, etc. The highest paid film is Gunday from the Yashraj banner. This production house alone has paid Rs 59.63 lakh to the railway for shooting at Wathar station near Pune. Other films and ads have been shot at CST, Wadi Bunder, Chunabhatti, Satara, Apta etc.

"The trend is encouraging and we would like to support such proposals," said Atul Rane, Chief PRO, CR. "We have also identified some more locations for film shootings at different locations." u00a0

Did you know?
During the shoot of ‘The Burning Train' in Delhi, the team had secured permission to film inside train coaches.

But the crew allegedly burned down the train and railways had to suffer losses of Rs 25 lakh. The authorities had procured a deposit of only Rs 5,000 from the team and nothing in the agreement authorised them to recover the rest of the money.