New Delhi:
It’s quite common for Bollywood filmmakers to shoot their movies on the stations of Central Railway line. Popular films like Rang De Basanti and Baaghi have been shot on the premises of the Central Railway line.
The Central Railway (CR) has earned more than Rs one crore in the last financial year by renting its premises and rail coaches for film shoots, according to a railway official.
The last financial year witnessed the shoot of about 16 films including documentaries, a web series, advertisements at various Central Railway locations by leading productions houses and filmmakers.
Central Railways’ Chief Public Relations Oficer (CPRO) Sunil Udasi, while addressing reporters on Wednesday, said that CR earned Rs 15.32 lakh from the shoot of Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy at the Wadi Bunder yard in South Mumbai.
Udasi said that Gully Boy was one of the highest revenue generating films for Central Railways.The musical drama which stars Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in lead roles will hit the silver screens on February 14 next year.
The most popular hot spots for filmmakers were the Apta station in Panvel area and old Wadi Bunder yard near Sandhurst Road station, informed Udasi. The Central Railway raked in good revenue from the film shoots on these two stations in 2017-18.
The earnings from the film shoots for the year 2016-17 stood at rs 73.93 lakh, while it went to more than Rs 1 crore in 2017-18, Udasi said.
''CR earned 36.43 per cent more revenue in our financial year’’, he added.
Central Railway also earned Rs 7 lakh from the shoot of the flick Jalebi: Circle of Love at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Rs 14.5 lakh from a cola ad film shoot at Wathar station, he informed.
Talking about the rise in revenue generation from film shoots, Udasi said that the Central Railway had undertaken an initiative to give permissions to filmmaker and production houses without any hassles.
“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 has reduced. Earlier it used to take around 15 days, but now filmmakers get permission withing a week even there is a requirement for rolling stock (rail coaches),” Udasi told PTI.
(With PTI inputs)
