Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh today said that he is confident that Mumbai’s film industry “can’t go elsewhere” and added the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was welcome to “make efforts” to do so.
Mr Deshmukh’s remarks come amid the ongoing visit to Mumbai by Mr Adityanath who met Bollywood personalities including actor Akshay Kumar over the last two days to discuss the future of a proposed film city in Uttar Pradesh.
Mr Deshmukh said: “Over 100 years ago a film industry was established here. I don’t think any other state could’ve provided the facilities that Mumbai has. We have better law and order. I am confident the film industry can’t go elsewhere. Let him (UP Chief Minister) make efforts.”
Earlier the Shiv Sena also hit out at the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister stating that it is not easy to shift Mumbai’s film city to another place.
“The film industry in south India is also big, there are film cities in West Bengal and Punjab too. Will Yogi Ji also visit these places and talk to directors/artists there or is he going to do so only in Mumbai?” Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut said.
Maharashtra Cabinet minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik said that Bollywood can’t be taken elsewhere and that the UP chief minister must have come to the maximum city, seeking investment.
“Mumbai is the economic capital of the country. Chief ministers come here and try to take some industry and investment for their states. Yogi Adityanath may also have come to Mumbai in this endeavour,” Mr Malik said.
“He is speaking of making a film city in Uttar Pradesh. It’s good as Bhojpuri has a very big market, but if anyone thinks that Bollywood can be taken elsewhere from Mumbai then they are confused. Even before this, Andhra Pradesh and other states started their own film city, but it did not diminish the importance of Bollywood in Mumbai,” the minister added.
Yogi Adityanath today said: “We want to build a world-class film city in Uttar Pradesh. We held discussions with several producers, directors, actors and other experts related to the film industry in this regard.”
In September, this month, Mr Adityanath held a meeting with representatives of Bollywood over constructing a film city in the state and approximately 1,000 acres of land was identified for the project.
The Chief Minister had said the proposed site is just an hour away from New Delhi and very close to the proposed International Airport at Jewar, going to be the biggest greenfield airport in Asia.
