Thiruvananthapuram: Culture minister A.K. Balan said a film city in Ottappalam is under the active consideration of the state government. Though no funds had been allocated for the film city project in this year’s Budget, Mr Balan said funds could be provided through KIIFB. “We are examining whether some amount could be taken out for the film city project from the Rs 100 crore set apart for KSFDC (Kerala State Film Development Corporation) in KIIFB,” the minister said while responding to a submission raised by Ottappalam MLA P. Unni in the Assembly on Monday.
Land has already been identified, and an estimate of Rs 7.7 crore is before the state. Mr A K Balan said that the Irrigation Department had handed over 3.3 acres of its land on a 30-year lease to KSFDC for the film city project. “But after that no funds were earmarked for the project in any of the budgets that followed,” Mr Balan said. The Ottappalam Film City project was first mooted in the 2011-12 Budget presented during the last LDF tenure. Then, a token amount of '50 lakh was allotted.
In the 2012-13 Budget presented by K M Mani, Rs one crore was allocated. “Some of Malayalam’s biggest blockbusters like Devasuram and Aram Thampuran were made in Varikkasseri Mana in Ottappalam. Now, even other state films are made there,” Mr Unni said. “However, for post-production works, filmmakers will have to travel all the way to Kochi or Chennai. If a film city is created ihere, it can cut production cost by a large margin,” he added.
