Central Railway has earned over Rs 2.48 crore in this financial year 2021-22 by offering its various premises and rail coaches for film shootings. This is the highest ever revenue earned by Central Railway in any financial year. Around 10 films were shot that includes 6 feature films, two web series, one short film and an advertisement at different Central Railway locations by various filmmakers and production houses.
Central Railway earned highest revenue of Rs. 1.27 crore from the feature film ‘2 Brides’ shot at Yeola, Kanhegaon stations with Shooting Special Train for 18 days. Another feature film shot at Adarki Railway Station with Special train for 9 days fetched Rs. 65.95 lakhs. Despite covid restrictions in the initial 6 months of this financial year, Central Railway with its seamless process attracted production houses to use its location for film shooting and generated this record revenue.
The revenue earned of Rs. 2.48 crores this financial year is the highest ever from Film Shooting by Central Railway surpassing the previous highest generated in the year 2013-14 of 1.73 crore. Despite stringent covid restrictions during last financial year i.e 2020-21, the revenue earned was Rs. 41.16 lakhs.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus continues to be the most preferred film shooting location for film makers, 4 films were shot at this UNESCO World Heritage Railway station including a film starring Arshad Warsi & Chitrangada Singh titled ‘Moder Love – Cutting Chai’. The other film shooting locations were the second most popular old Wadi Bunder yard, Adarki railway station near Satara, Yeola, Kanhegaon stations between Manmad & Ahmednagar, Dadar, Mulund RPF ground and the attractive hill stations for Mumbaikars, the Matheran Railway station.
Anil Kumar Lahoti, General Manager said “Thanks to our popular locations like Chhtrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Railway Station, the old Wadi Bunder yard, Wathar (near Satara) and the Apta station (in Panvel area) and also the initiatives to grant permission without any hassles to the production houses enabled Central Railway to earn record revenue from film shoots” .
Shivaji Sutar, Chief Public Relations Officer said “Many box office hit films were shot over Central Railway like Slum Dog Millionaire, Kaminey, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Ra-one, Raavan, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, Dilwale Dulaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dabangg, Darbaar, Rang de Basanti, Baaghi, Khaki, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, and many others hit films were shot over the years.”
The most preferred film shooting location were Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and other popular stations like Apta, Panvel, Lonavala, Khandala, Wathar, Satara and railway yards like Turbhe and Wadi bunder. The permission for the film shooting is granted by the Public Relations Department of Central Railway, recently to expedite the film shooting permission, a single window system has been introduced, this simplification of the procedure will enable the film companies to obtain permission after submission of the necessary documents along with the script and application mentioning the requirements.
