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Ramoji Film City

The largest, most comprehensive and professionally planned film production center in the world - the Ramoji Film City is one of its kinds. It has surpassed the size and facilities offered at the Universal Studios of Hollywood. Located at an hour's distance from Hyderabad, the 10,000 million rupees Film City spreads over an area of more than 1000 acres. A cursory glance at this fantasy world is enough to leave the visitors speechless and awe-struck. Tastefully landscaped, meticulously maintained, exquisitely designed with palace-like edifices, temples, beautiful rock figurines, shopping arcades, railway station, airport and all that a producer can dream of! All a producer has to do is - enter the film city with the script and the cast and leave with the completed film reel!!

Prior permission is required to visit the Ramoji Film City. Visitors have to arrange a private mode of transport to reach the Film City. The visiting charges are as follows:

On Week Days
Rs. 600 for adults and Rs. 300 for children between 5 and 10 yrs., per day.
(Inclusive of breakfast and lunch at the 5-Star Hotel Sitara plus 3-4 hrs. of sightseeing.)

Rs. 400 for adults and Rs. 200 for children between 5 and 10 yrs., per day.
(Inclusive of breakfast and lunch at the 3-Star Hotel Tara plus 3-4 hrs. of sightseeing.)

On Weekends
Rs. 750 for adults and Rs. 375 for children between 5 and 10 yrs., per day.
(Inclusive of breakfast and lunch at the 5-Star Hotel Sitara plus 3-4 hrs. of sightseeing.)

Rs. 550 for adults and Rs. 275 for children between 5 and 10 yrs., per day.
(Inclusive of breakfast and lunch at the 3-Star Hotel Tara plus 3-4 hrs. of sightseeing.)

Package Offer
One Day Stay at 5-Star Hotel Sitara for 2 persons: Rs. 4800 (Food allowance upto Rs. 1000)
One Day Stay at 3-Star Hotel Tara for 2 persons: Rs. 1890 (Food allowance upto Rs. 600)

Down in the clouds
Cinema: A hundred films can be shot
at a time in Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad

RENJI KURIAKOSE in Hyderabad

You can prance in the Alps if you wish or sip ceremonial tea outside a Japanese temple. You can hop from Dharavi, Asia's biggest slum, to Nagpur railway station in a jiffy. The spread of 1,000 acres caters to every whim. Gardens, temples, sprawling countryside, a fort, hotels, city streets, railway stations, a palace, an airport, a mobile kitchen... you name it and it's there.

An instant palace, crafted by skilled artisans

Ramoji Film City, 45 km from Hyderabad, is every film unit's dream come true. The 40 studio floors, a fully-equipped prop shop, a set design and construction division, state-of-the-art equipment, experienced production staff, and hi-tech digital editing, dubbing and sound-recording facility, along with luxury hotels, became functional in September.

There was no inaugural function, only a visit by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on September 9. The shooting of a Telugu film starring Srikanth and Simran, commenced the next day. The Film City has the capacity to shoot 100 films at a time and its target customers are Hindi and Telugu producers. Crores have been invested for packing excellence under one roof.

The unique selling point of the Film City is its capacity to rebuild any place for a shoot. This ensures that no location will become jaded from repeated exposure. You have a vast choice of flexible locations, typical as well as spontaneous.
You can choreograph song sequences in any or all of the gardens and later change the look of the fountain, the layout of the street, the facades of the buildings in the streets or the shape of the multi-dimensional pond to create a totally different locale.

The sets (a street corner at right) can be remodelled to resemble something else at short notice

 

"A producer can walk in with a script and walk out with the canned film," said media baron Ramoji Rao, the producer and director of this spectacular project. "The idea is to save time, energy and resources and focus on creative excellence, executional quality, economical schedules and meticulous planning."

The chairman of the Eenadu-Margadarshi group, Rao chose Nitish Roy as the creative director of the Film City. The national award-winning art director has worked for directors like Shaym Benegal, Mrinal Sen, Govind Nilhani, Rajkumar Santoshi and Vinod Chopra, besides 5,000 ad films and television serials like Discovery of India, Chanakya and Mirza Ghalib.

John Flynn and Sam Toyoshima of the Acoustics Design Group form the other members of the core team. Assisting them is Dr A. Appa Rao, former vice-chancellor of Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, who has been involved in the landscaping, designing and layout of the 150 exotically-endowed gardens in the Film City.

The meticulously maintained gardens offer a vast, varied and fantastic canvas for films. A filmmaker can recreate an English or a Japanese garden or create his own floral pattern mid-song to suit the heroine's costume. Besides, there is a nursery with tens of thousands of flowering plants from all over the world to take care of floral backdrops. All for a price, of course.

Everything is not make-believe. The Film City boasts of a five-star hotel, Sitara, which comes with all amenities, restaurants, pool, gym and business centre. There is also a three-star hotel, Tara, and for those who would rather opt out of a hotel, there are dormitories well equipped to accommodate even the largest of crews. A special office complex, Samra, houses well-appointed offices and air-conditioned cabins for producers.

There are 40 studio floors of varying sizes, as small as 20 x 30 feet and as large as 135 x 210 feet, and most are adaptable enough for filmmakers to create the settings of their choice. In the workshops of the Film City, over a thousand skilled carpenters, moulders and sculptors help art directors create truly authentic and unique sets.Using wood, fibreglass and plaster of paris, these craftsmen have already created thousands of objets d'art in styles ranging from ancient Greek to Renaissance and ancient Indian to modern and abstract.
The name of prop supply division is 'Parade'. This six-storey structure houses costumes, jewellery, furniture and appliances. Parade's inventory runs into hundreds of categories with an amazing variety of objects, from flutes and fishing rods, Belgian crystal and bullockcarts to hammocks and horse saddles.
The furniture division, 'Harmony', has a pool of designers and carpenters who conjure up traditional Indian or pseudo Chippendale furniture, a Swiss chalet or a mahogany panelled boardroom.

Since the locations scattered over a vast area, the Film City has conveniently provided over 250 make-up rooms at various spots. "You can choose between air-conditioned deluxe rooms and economy ones, each one well-lit and comfortably fitted to provide the relaxed environment your unit needs," said Roy. "Or if your shoot so demands you can even use one of the mobile make-up rooms."

During production and post-production the Film City, which employs 5,000-odd people, can support filmmakers with its own experienced staff of spot boys, electricians, carpenters and painters, even dancers and extras.The filmmakers can also draw an army of editors, recordists, musicians and sound technicians, film editors, Beta editors and dubbing artistes in the City to ensure that post-production runs smoothly.

Besides raw stock and tapes, a complete range of lights, a choice of film cameras, cranes, dollies, booms and whatever else filmmakers need are available on the studio floor and on outdoor locations. The Film City claims to have the country's most advanced processing system, high-quality wet and dry printers and a high-speed inspection station that allows rapid optical sound track checking.

Designed by Acoustics Design Group, a well-known name in the field, the Film City will provide a fully-integrated digital environment for the entire audio post-production process, from dialogue replacement to final mix down. It is equipped with a recording theatre with acoustics that comfortably surpass Dolby and THX standards.

Besides basics like convenient modes of transport and telephones for quick communication, the Film City's huge kitchens are equipped to cook for 2,000 people at a time. Moreover, the City has made provisions to take care of between-meal demands through mobile refreshment vans.The Film City's infrastructure includes its own power sub-station, telephone exchange and post-office. There is an in-house travel agency to look after ticketing, airport pickups, car hiring and other requirements. In case a filmmaker faces a temporary fund problem, the Film City's exclusive financing service can help him out.

It is a self-contained world, perhaps the first of its kind. And it hopes to invigorate the Indian film industry and help produce some of the finest films of our times. Now, how's that for focus.

Hollywood Film to be Made in Hyderabad

INDIA POST S ASIA BUREAU

HYDERABAD: The Ramoji Film City (RFC) here is emerging as a rival to Hollywood. American filmmaker Roger Corman told mediapersons here last week that, starting January next, he would camp in the city for at least eight months to make a film on Isaac Assimov’s book "Nightfall".

The film to be co-produced by Ramoji Rao, newspaper baron, is likely to be the first Hollywood film to be completely made in India. The cast will be a mix of Indian and American actors with the hero being American and the leading lady Indian. Rao hoped that Corman’s entry will be the first of many to come to his dream project (RFC) where about 24 films in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Bengali and Oriya have been made since it started a year ago.

Roger Corman, producer of 550 films and director of 50 others, and his wife, Julie Corman, also a producer in her own right, said they were extremely impressed with the facilities at RFC. "I had originally planned to shoot "Nightfall" in Hollywood but after seeing RFC I feel I can make a better film here," Corman said. He added: "Nightfall has created a framework for future films."

Ms Corman had made the same film in 1988. Its success had propelled her husbanad to remake it. The film will portray proponents of science and rationalism as watchers and seekers respectively. While six American actors including the hero will play the part of the watchers, the Indian cast will portray the rationalists. Corman said the film should cost about 30 million dollars, but still would be 50 per cent cheaper than if it was made in Hollywood. He added, "Although we are making a saving, the quality will not suffer because of the world class facilities available here."

Rao said the processing lab was ready last week while the special effects section would be ready soon. He added that negotiations were currently on with an Italian film maker to come here and make a film.

Corman has made films like the teen comedy "The Screwballs", a sci-fi adventure "Space Riders", the sword and sorcery epic "Deathstalker". Recent releases include "Reflections in the Dark" and "Shopping".