New Delhi: Starting August 1, producers will pay a minimum of more than Rs. 4.5 lakh per day as opposed to around Rs. 2.3 lakh now for shooting train scenes. There have been make believe fights, dances and and drama on trains, but film producers will pay more. The Dil Se film easily comes to mind – SRK and Malaika Arora on the top of a moving train swaying to the beat of ‘Chaiya Chaiya’
The per km haulage charge for filming in special trains consisting not more than four coaches, excluding the SLR, would be equal to the seat/ berth provided in each class for the distance the special train covers. The minimum fare per km would be Rs. 1,044 per km for trains on broad gauge and Rs. 1,628 on meter and narrow gauges as against the present Rs. 597 and Rs. 866 respectively.
There would be separate charges for dining/ kitchen/ pantry car coaches, detention charges for the train as well as the locomotive, security deposit (Rs. 2.5 lakh), service charge at 30 per cent, empty haulage charge and special hilly area surcharge of 20 per cent for trains on narrow gauge.
Besides these charges, licence fee too has to be paid to shoot on Railways premises, including stations and trains. It is Rs. 1 lakh for A1 and A cities, Rs. 50,000 for B1 and B cities, and Rs. 25,000 for other locations. Another Rs. 30,000 is for using moving/ stable railway coaches.
Thus, the total minimum haulage charge per day comes to Rs. 4,74,345 as against the present Rs. 2,31,551. In its circular issued to all Railway zones on July 15, the Railway Board has said the charges were last revised on June 25, 2009.
Detrimental move
Renowned film director S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu says the Railways move is detrimental to the film industry. He explained that song shoots take a minimum of four days, while fight scenes take a minimum of ten days for a shoot. Regional language film producers in Kannada, Malayalam or Bengali, would not be in a position to bear over Rs. 1 crore, Mr. Babu told The Hindu. Instead he suggested that like elsewhere in the world, one coach in a regular train can be provided to shoot the film, which will eliminate the necessity of hiring or constituting separate special trains just for this purpose.
