Mumbai:
Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers on Monday held demonstrations outside the Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari, popularly known as Film City to protest against its proposal to scrap 50 per cent concessions to Marathi TV producers.
The Sena morcha was led by MLA Vinod Ghosalkar, Abhijit Panse, while the MNS group was led by Amey Khopkar, its film cell head.
Maharashtra State Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation, which manages the Film City, urged the government to withdraw the 50 per cent concessions provided to Marathi TV producers to shoot their serials and programmes.
Sources said that the request was made because TV serials take more than three years to shoot, because of which, the Film City faces losses of over Rs one crore for each serial.
"The concessions to Marathi films will continue, because the shooting does not take more than a month," a source said. Proposal of the Film City to withdraw the 50 per cent concession would have hit the production of
'Unch Maza Zoka', a Marathi serial based on the life and times of women's rights activist Ramabai Ranade, wife of freedom fighter and social reformer Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade, currently being shot in the Film city.
The production house has erected a huge set in the Film City for the shooting purpose.
However, sources in the cultural department said that the Marathi TV producers were funded by the private television channels to make the serials.
"Film City is meant for shooting of movies and that is why it is called Chitranagari. However, due to the growing number of television channels, the number of serials being produced has also gone up," a source said.
When contacted, Cultural Affairs Minister Sanjay Deotale said that he spoke to the Shiv Sena delegation, who took out a morcha outside the Film City.
"I told them that I would study the background of the concessions provided to Marathi producers and take a call on the proposal of the Film City in two days," he added.