Film personalities meet Siddharamaiah urging him to give shape to proposal

Mysore/Mysuru: With Siddharamaiah firmly back in the Chief Minister’s seat, the limelight has returned to Mysuru and the first among the major plans that he will initiate in his hometown will be the long-pending Film City project.

As a prelude to the Film City finally becoming a reality, a group of noted actors and Directors appealed to Siddharamaiah to allocate funds in the forthcoming Budget. The CM met a delegation led by noted Film Director and Producer, Rajendra Singh Babu yesterday to get inputs for the budget to be presented on July 7.

Others in the delegation were Directors Girish Kasaravalli, T.N. Seetharam, Lingadevaru and Nanjundegowda, senior actors Srinivasmurthy and Vijayalakshmi Singh and Commissioner of Information and Public Relations Department Hemanth Nimbalkar  

The Chief Minister assured the delegation that he will take up the project as the film fraternity has been demanding it for the last four decades. He said another round of discussions about the project will be held after the Budget.

Directors and other film personalities explained to the CM about the benefits of establishing the Film City in Mysuru and responding to the request, the CM told them that he will personally take an initiative to set up the mega project at Himmavu near Varuna and hold another round of talks post-Budget to make the project a reality.

The Film City was first proposed in the 1980s at Hesaraghatta near Bengaluru during the tenure of the then CM Ramakrishna Hegde. In 2017 during the reign of Siddharamaiah the Congress Government had allotted 110 acres of land at Himmavu and also announced Rs.25 crore grant for the Film City.

When Kumaraswamy took over as CM in 2018, the Film City location was shifted to Ramanagara and to Bengaluru in 2019 during the Government headed by Yediyurappa who planned it at Devika Rani Roerich Estate in Tataguni. After severe backlash from environmentalists, Yediyurappa shifted the Film City project back to Hesaraghatta.

However, due to paucity of land at Hesaraghatta — it needs at least 100 acres of land — the project was shifted back to Mysuru in 2021. Once established, the facility aims to accommodate up to 5,000 individuals simultaneously, including artists, technicians, workers and other professionals involved in film production.

The project has generated high expectations within the tourism industry stakeholders, as it is anticipated to enhance tourism in and around Mysuru. The region boasts over 250 tourist sites, and retaining the Film City project in Mysuru would greatly benefit both the film industry and individuals dependent on the tourism sector.