Permission for cinema shooting at ASI monument sites will be granted within 3 weeks: Prahlad Singh Patel

India’s tourism minister Prahlad Singh Patel has said there won’t be any need to wait for long periods of time, to secure permission to shoot films in any of the monuments of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Patel said that film makers will get permission for shooting within 3 weeks of applying online on the ASI website (asiegov.gov.in/login).  He further said that this move is aimed at not only promoting  film shooting within India, but will also increase the popularity of Indian monuments.

Patel urged the film industry to shoot at less popular ASI monuments along with known ones, so that the world can get information about those monuments as well. The minister also requested the film fraternity to do more shooting in North-Eastern India and Himalayan states so that the country and the world will get to know more about their natural beauty and vibrant culture.

The Tourism Ministry’s plan supports the Indian government’s “vocal for local” policy, encouraging film makers to shoot their movies within India. Locations involving archaeological sites in metro cities required clearances from the ASI, the Home Ministry, Ministry of Environment and Forests and several other departments in the metropolis as also the police and its traffic wing. In addition to this, scripts and locations had to be vetted in advance along with the specifications on the number of shooting days.

That probably was the biggest reason why our monuments and museums have never featured in films to the extent that story-tellers wanted them to. In comparison, foreign locales seemed attractive because of the local tourism boards’ incentives such as tax credits, cash rebates, refunds, fee-free location scouting etc.