Goan film-makers have demanded revival of the Film Finance Scheme of the State government to boost Goa’s films. Swapnil Shetkar, whose film ‘Home Sweet Home 2’ is presently attracting huge crowds, speaks to The Goan about how he managed without financial support from the government and why the scheme is needed to boost Goa’s films
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Goa has been witnessing a number of quality films which have received accolades some of which include O Maria, Nachom-ia Kumpasar, Home Sweet Home, among others. Though the first full-length Konkani film ‘Mogacho Anvddo’ was made in 1950, it was during the last decade that several Konkani films are being made in Goa which have been able to draw people’s attention.
After tasting the success of his film ‘Home Sweet Home’, Goa’s young film-maker went ahead with the sequel of the film, ‘Home Sweet Home 2’. The film, which is presently running at various theatres across the State, is receiving huge response.
Without any financial support from the government, Shetkar arranged for the finances of his film on his own.
Speaking about the same, he said, “After the success of part one of ‘Home Sweet Home’, we were expecting that producers will be ready to invest. But when it actually came to investing, nobody was ready. Finally we had to start raising our income. The film has cost us over Rs 1 crore which was raised through our personal savings, bank loans and borrowings from various institutions.”
The film has been shot at over 25 locations in Goa as well as in Kuwait.
“As per the old scheme of the government, Goan producers had to pay Rs 1,000 per day per location. Presently, to get permission, the Entertainment Society of Goa has to be paid Rs 10,000 for getting clearance under the single window system so that all the communication is forwarded to various departments to get NOCs," he said.
He informed further, “But this doesn’t stop here. You have to run to all departments to get permissions. And when municipalities and panchayats are approached they ask for their charges which depend on the locations.”
Explaining the expenditure on the equipment required for shooting, he said, “The equipment required for shooting was procured from Goa as well as from Kolhapur. If you speak about the camera department, we had used special equipment called gimbal which was charged Rs 15,000 per day. Additionally, the lens kit was costing anywhere between Rs 10,000-12,000 a day. And come along with it the charges of assistants, attendants and others. So to sum it up, the cost of every department varies from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 a day.”
The marketing of the film has cost Shetkar over Rs 15 lakh. This has been done in all the possible ways which include print and electronic media, radio, among others.
“Additionally, we also had door-to-door campaigns and pamphlets were distributed at prime locations and outside the theatres too. Additionally, the pre-release trailers were shown at theatres which have even cost us as high as Rs 1.5 lakh a week depending on various factors like the duration of the trailers, the movie and the show time," informed Shetkar.
He further underlined the need for a Film Finance Scheme of the government to boost Goan film-makers.
He said, “There are two things involved in making of the film - the budget and the recovery. When the budget is being decided, as a producer you also look at recovery, unless the producer is not looking at any gains and only looking at taking the industry forward.”
“If you feel only Rs 50 lakh worth recovery is possible, then you also look at making a film worth Rs 50 lakh. If at this time government provides the film-makers with a subsidy of Rs 40 lakh, then automatically the producer thinks of raising the budget. This is not an increase in the amount but also increase in the quality of the film," he said.
Stating that the Film Finance Scheme is the need of the hour for the Goan film industry, he said, “Presently, we are in a growing period. I don’t think the scheme will be needed after another 10 years. Today the Bollywood-like trend is entering Goa with several good films like Nachom-ia Kumpasar, O Maria, Home Sweet Home wherein people are getting attracted towards Konkani cinema.”
Revealing that in comparison to Home Sweet Home, the recovery of Home Sweet Home 2 had gone up four times in the first two weeks, he said, “This time the collection is gone up four times. If within this one year it can make such a big difference, if consistency is maintained by Konkani films then I am sure that within the next five years, whatever amount is invested will be recovered.”
