What?s common between Jab We Met and Slumdog Millionaire? The portions from both the movies have been shot in the Indian Railways. While the railways has provided a perennial backdrop to Indian films, the ministry has hiked rates for special trains used during shootings to cash in on recent success of the movies.
Filmmakers will now have to pay a minimum of Rs 2,31,551 per day for special trains for shooting films, nearly one-and-a-half times more than the earlier daily charge of Rs 94,000.
The railways will charge a distance based fare for every seat in a special train consisting of four bogies, with a minimum fare of Rs 597 per km per train on broad gauge and Rs 866 on metre gauge or narrow gauge.
Apart from this, filmmakers will also have to pay a daily detention charge of Rs 1,500 apart and another Rs 300 per hour per coach, a service charge of 20%, a development charge and a security deposit of at least Rs 1,50,000 or Rs 10,000 per coach. ?In view of the steep rise in input cost, the ministry of railways have decided to revise the haulage and other charges for booking of Special Trains for shooting of films,? as per an official release. The new fares are effective from July this month.
The last time railways hiked charges for shooting films was 12 years ago in 1997, although in 2006, Northern Railways had revised some costs.
The new circular however supercedes it. Most film makers find it cheaper to shoot on the train than to create an artificial set. The railways has been finding space in a number of recent hits?be it Ghajini, Jab We Met or Life in a Metro. In fact revenue of Indian Railways from films has doubled within a year, as Indian railways earned Rs 82 lakh in 2007, compared to Rs 33 lakh in 2006.