Rachakonda ‘ideal’ for cinema city of Telangana
The area is already famous for film shootings
By : l. venkat ram reddy
Update: 2014-08-04 01:50 GMT
Hyderabad: The Telangana state government has started scouting for suitable land to set up the mega Cinema City that will be spread over 2,000 acre near the city. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had recently announced his plans of setting up the Cinema City on a par with Hollywood to give fillip to the cinema and TV industry in the state.
Following his directions, officials from revenue and industries departments have started searching for land on the city’s outskirts. Official sources said Rachakonda hillocks area, located on the Nalgonda-Ranga Reddy border, is being considered. Industry department officials say the area is suitable to set up the Cinema City as the Shamshabad airport is just 25 km away and the site lies along the NH-65 and ORR, providing world-class connectivity.
The site proposed by the Telangana state government for a new Cinema City is very near Ramoji Film City, which is less than 10 km, and the TS government’s Cinema City is expected to give tough competition to the Film City.
Moreover, Rachakonda is spread over 35,000 acre and the entire land belongs to the government and there will be no need to spend huge amounts to acquire land from private parties.
Officials say it is difficult to find 2,000 acre in the core areas of Hyderabad or RR to set up the Cinema City and thus Rachakonda would be ideal. The area is already famous for film shootings.
Recent Tollywood films such as the Pawan Kalyan starrer Gabbar Singh and the Prabhas starrer Rebel were shot here. The climax scene of the Mahesh Babu starrer Aagadu is also currently being shot here.
However, there is already a proposal to set up a Rachakonda Field Firing Range (RFFR) for the Army by Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) in Rachakonda Hills. The proposal was mooted before bifurcation and the united AP government had even transferred 5,630 hectare of forest land, out of 6.975 hectare leased out to the Army, in November 2013. However, the works are yet to begun.
With the bifurcation of the state, it remains to be seen whether the TS government would go ahead with the firing range project or not. Officials meanwhile say that it will not be a problem to set up a film city on 2,000 acre in Rachakonda area even after the firing range project is established.