Two high-tech film studios at Rs 15 crore

Chennai: Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday announced that two ultra modern studios with the latest equipment will be set up at the MGR Film and Television Training Institute at Taramani. The project will cost the state government Rs 15 crore and will be set up on 2.5 acres of land on film city campus.

Speaking on the project under Rule 110 in the assembly, Jayalalithaa said there was a need for more shooting floors in the wake of fast changing digital technology, using which films and soap operas were being made. “Following a demand by the South Indian Film Producers Association, directors and technical artistes about the need for more studios in and around the city, we have decided to construct these two shooting floors that will also be useful for students of the MGR Film Institute to get hands on training in latest equipment,” Jayalalithaa said.

Stating that the film industry was providing direct and indirect employment to lakhs of families, she said after she became CM for the third time, she had allocated Rs 10 crore for the centenary celebrations of Indian cinema. A new department ‘Animation and Visual Effects’ has been introduced at the MGR Film  Institute at a cost of Rs 9.50 crore.

While preview theatre at the institute was renovated at Rs 99 lakh, the shooting floor was renovated at a cost of Rs 1.43 crore. Nearly 20,000 members were enrolled in the welfare board for film employees and various forms of assistance were being provided, she said.

The CM also announced that a new building would be constructed at the government press at the cost of Rs 21.59 crore as the existing building had been destroyed in a fire mishap. Automatic sewing machines for binding will be procured at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore for the press.