Tollywood taps into foreign subsidies

Hyderabad: If you thought leading filmmakers shoot in exotic locations in Switzerland, seamless sceneries of tulip land or in Prague or picturesque Belfast, because audiences started craving for visual treats, think again. Now, it is only to rake in the moolah in the form of foreign subsidies doled out by nations in return for showcasing their tourist locales.

Earlier, B-town big films like Don 2, RaOne and Desi Boyz got subsidies ranging from Rs 25 crore to Rs 5 crore from Germany and the UK and now its turn of Telugu films to tap into the offers by a few foreign countries. But for T-town it was superstar Mahesh Babu’s film 1 Nenokadine. Even though it did not exactly set box office on fire, it surely triggered a new trend in T-town.

Its producers, Gopi Achanta and Anil Sunkara, reportedly pocketed Rs 14 crore (equivalent to the UK pounds) from tourism department of the United Kingdom for shooting their film extensively in London. “They shot for nearly 50 days in and around London and almost spent around Rs 28 crore (Indian rupees) for those few schedules. Later they presented the detailed production expenditure and got a subsidy of 50 percent of almost Rs 14 crore from the UK government and its first Telugu film to tap foreign funds,” says an industry source.

To capitalise it now, producer Bogavali Prasad is reportedly negotiating with the UK government for 40 percent to 50 percent subsidy for shooting his upcoming film with superstar NTR Jr to be directed by Sukumar in the UK. Similarly actor and producer Nitin is reportedly negotiating with the US and the UK governments for his big budget film with teen sensation Akhil and it would be finalized soon.

“We can’t confirm anything right now about our negotiations but we are planning to shoot a good portion of our film in London to capture its breath-taking locales,” says producer Bogavali Prasad, who spent 10 days in Spain with director Sukumar and composer Devisriprasad to record few songs. “We recorded some chartbusters in Spain,” he adds.

Actually, a Telugu film producer should register with respective governments in the US or the UK or South Africa and only then they would be eligible for subsidy and other benefits. Earlier, Indian producers used to shoot only song sequences abroad. But, now they are shooting major portions and making these countries a part of the storyline. “It’s true that producers of Nenokandine got some subsidy from the UK government and I heard even the US is willing to fund Telugu films, if we shoot extensively in their countries showcasing their best locales.

So it is a win-win situation for both Telugu producers as well as the foreign countries. So I hope more filmmakers will tap this opportunity,” says Prasanna Kumar, general secretary, Telugu Film Producers’ Council, who has also been to Bangkok with a 60-member delegation to negotiate subsidy from their tourism department.

“More than eight Telugu producers were part of this delegation, hosted by tourism department of Thailand and they took us around to showcase their exotic spots and offered to give more facilities for Telugu films,” says Prasanna, who feels that even Thai government could be doling out subsidy.

“We have asked them to give us 40 percent subsidy for each film shot in their country and they assured to discuss with their government and get back,” he adds. Even the grandiose launch vehicle of scion of Akkineni family will also be shot in the UK or South Africa since director Vinayak has been scouting virgin locales for his Rs 40-crore budget extravaganza.

Nitin is reportedly negotiating with tourism department of the UK and South African governments and are expecting 50 percent subsidy and would choose a country, which gives him the best bargain.

By:BVS Prakash