Bihar to set up film city with Bollywood actors' help

Patna, Nov 11 (IANS) Bihar will seek the help of Bollywood actors and filmmakers hailing from the state to set up a film city on public-private partnership basis.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar said here Tuesday that the government plans to establish a film city as 'part of Bihar's development agenda to attract investments'.

He said the government will revive the State Film Corporation to give concrete shape to the plan, adding that officials have been asked to identify places in Patna, Gaya and Rajgir in Nalanda district.

'Bihari Babu' Shatrughan Sinha, Manoj Bajpai, Shekhar Suman, Manoj Tiwari and Prakash Jha are some of the Bollywood actors and filmmakers from whom help will be sought to develop the film city.

The move is expected to fulfill the long-awaited dream of people as well as actors and filmmakers from the state.

Early this month, Manoj Tiwari, a leading actor-cum-producer of Bhojpuri film industry, met Nitish Kumar and took initiative for setting up the film city.

Shatrughan Sinha had submitted a proposal for establishing the film city in Patna nearly three years ago. He said about 25 reminders have been sent to the state government but no response has been sought. 'My project for investment has been gathering dust for nearly three years.'

Nitish Kumar said the move is not aimed to protect the Bhojpuri film industry, which is under threat in Mumbai. 'It has nothing to do with developments in Maharashtra,' he added.