There is a talk that the State Government has proposed to the owners of Annapurna and Ramanaidu studios that they would get new land on the outskirts to build new studios with all facilities at subsidy so that the lands in the prime areas can be used for some other government or private purpose in the city as the existing studios are in the heart of the city and the land value is very high in these places.
It may be recalled the Chief Minister KCR has earlier proposed for a film city in thousands of acres of land and he had a survey of the land by way of a chopper also. We do not know at what state is this proposal, but he wanted to make it the Hollywood level. He also involved Amitabh Bachchan in the decision making.
But it is learnt that the big producers and studio owners in the city have ruled out the possibility of shifting the studios. They have added the sentiment value to these studios built by their fathers and were instrumental in shifting the Tollywood to Hyderabad. There were also allegations that some studio owners were using the land for real estate purpose and not for the movie shooting and studio purpose. Some others have also advised the Government to take back the lands from these people who have changed the usage of the land illegally.
The land was given for a purpose and they used it for some other purpose which is illegal. Huge sites in acres were taken in the name of studios at subsidy and the land was diverted for some other purpose people in the industry reported to the government. It has to be seen what would be the ultimate decision of the Government and what would be the response of the studio owners.
