Madhya Pradesh on its way to become a major filmmaking destination

Film tourism seems to be the new mantra when it comes to Madhya Pradesh Tourism. The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has come up with a comprehensive and attractive film tourism policy to woo filmmakers from Bollywood, Tollywood, Mollywood and from outside India. MP possibly is the first state to come up with such concrete and comprehensive policy in this regard. Especially in the post Covid-19 era, the MP government is harping on such policy measures to hardsell various locations to movie makers cutting across countries.

"And it is not just handholding and offering various permissions and clearances through a single window system, but what are new on offers include various financial sops, financial support (of paying back 30-40 per cent of total spent on movie making in MP) so on and so forth. At different levels and on different grounds we offer these financial incentives and subsidies- for choosing MP as shooting location, for promoting some location/s of MP as a destination (there is another round of incentive or subsidy), for roping in principal actors from the state, for roping in supporting actors from the state, for hiring crews and technicians and it goes on like this," said Sheo Shekhar Shukla, Principal Secretary Tourism and Culture Department and Managing Director, MP Tourism Board.

It suits the state's purpose of promoting various parts of MP as tourism destinations. Movies play a very important role in the lives of Indians, especially the actors and actresses. Movie is a force that is capable of driving the decision of consumers and little wonder therefore that the MP government prefers being supportive of movie makers to make MP an important shooting destination for the industry. The pristine forests, the rippling rivers and waterbodies, the scenic islands, the rich history and heritage of the forts and palaces, the culture and exotic cuisine and the hospitalble people- all go to make it the heart of 'incredible India', anyways, said Shukla.

Along with film tourism, the MP government is also promoting village tourism, sustainable tourism and what is known as 'responsible tourism'. The central Indian state has lined up an ambitious plan of throwing open as many as 1000 home stays across various hinterland and rural areas. Nearly 60-70 home stays are already operational. The state government has identified 15 more sites and 25 more waterbodies for these purposes. District level committees and state level committee have been formed to work on these. Moves are afoot to provide sustainable livelihood, develop entrepreneurship among the local people by way of upskilling, training, handholding, financial schemes. The state is also engaging architects and sending these entrepreneurs wannabes to see some of the successful homestay models elsewhere, so that the upcoming home stays are globally benchmarked, said Shukla.

The much-hyped Jal Mahotsav at the Hanuwantiya Island located on the backwaters of Indira Sagar Dam is a case in point of how the state government is coming up and promoting newer destinations with modern facilities, adventure tourism and MICE facilities and at the same time adding a dash of ethnicity and local flavours, he said. Adventure activities such as scuba diving, night safari at Boriyamal Island, luxury Regal series boat, 40 feet high rope swing, zip cycle, paramotoring, parasailing, speed boat, jet-ski, hot air ballooning, motor boat riding and much more are there to lure in tourists.

With green and clean tourism at the core of everything, the state is also coming up with the largest floating solar plant at the Sailani Island. The state is also working on solar and wind power (if possible and viable) at other locations as well, said Shukla.­