Railways wants to help filmmakers use its vast network, says CR official

The Indian Railways wants to facilitate filmmakers to help them use the country’s vast rail network for their projects, Central Railway (CR) chief PRO Narendra Patil has said.

“We want to ease the problems faced by the (film) industry, the domestic as well as the international industry, and to work out solutions to ease the filmmaking process in India,” Mr Patil said. Be it Chhaiya Chhaiya from Dil Se or a movie like Jab We Met, trains and train journeys have caught the fancy of the filmmakers and audiences alike.

“In such cases, there are various issues and permissions that a filmmaker has to deal with, in order to film these sequences. The co-operation of the Railways is vital in such situations,” The Railways conducted a Film Tourism Symposium, along with leading members of the country and some international filmmakers, Mr Patil said. The idea of the symposium was to understand the problems faced by the industry and to work out solutions to ease the filmmaking process, he said.

There are 19 rail zones, and depending on the geographical area, filmmakers have to take permission from the different zonal authorities, he said. “We plan to give them the key resource person’s contact n umber from each railway zone, so that they can directly contact the authorities,” he said.