Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath is all set to make Noida and Greater Noida the centre of India’s film industry, in a move which is set to snatch the title of Mumbai as the “silver city” of India. This comes amidst increasing public ire against Bollywood and its inner cabal, which blatantly discriminates against ‘outsiders’ and non-film lineage individuals who dream to make the cut in the highly Mumbai-centric film industry.
“The CM, while addressing a review meeting, announced to set up the biggest and most beautiful film city of the country in Gautam Buddh Nagar. He instructed officials to search for a suitable land in or around Noida, Greater Noida, or Yamuna Expressway and prepare an action plan,” an official statement said.
The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, thinking ahead of the times, is said to have asked officials to make necessary arrangements to make the ‘biggest and most beautiful’ film city in Noida, adding that in the present circumstances, the country needs a good film city and that UP is ready to rise to the occasion, in a signal to Bollywood that UP is ready to take the responsibility to decentralise the country’s existing film industry.
The move of the UP government is significant, as it stamps authority on the fact that there is a high level of distrust throughout the country towards Bollywood’s hegemons, many of whom have drawn the wrath of citizens across India for their alleged involvement in the death of Sushant Singh Rajput.
By federalising the country’s film city and making Noida the new centre of ‘Bollywood’, the Yogi government is all set to snatch away the political patronage which many stars in Mumbai currently enjoy, and whose ties to the present establishment of Maharashtra have been exposed to a spine-chilling magnitude. In Uttar Pradesh, rest assured, the Yogi government will not allow nepotism to flourish in the film industry based out of Noida, which will kill the seemingly unending rule of Bollywood’s inner cabal.
Further, many films and series like Gangs of Wasseypur, Mirzapur, Pan Singh Tomar, among others are those whose storyline revolves around the country’s Hindi Heartland. As such, it is only befitting for the production and shooting of such films to take place out of Uttar Pradesh, more so Noida. This will not only create tremendous employment opportunities for the citizens of the state but will also go a long way in ensuring that the usual stereotyping of the state and the region is brought to an end.
Yogi Adityanath has once again set an example for other states, to base mini film industries out of their territories, thus giving ample employment opportunities to the people who don’t have the privilege of going to Mumbai to pursue their dreams of becoming film stars. Further, the decision to make a mega film city in Greater Noida is bound to be the final nail in the coffin of a discriminatory Bollywood industry, whose survival, in any case, stands on the edge.