Moviemaking in India

mikunu

I checked out the following webpages for information:
http://mib.nic.in/informationb/CODES/shooting.htm
http://www.indianembassy.se/index.ph...ontent&i d=32
I thought the second link would still be pertinent even though my partner is a US Citizen.

I am planning on living in India, New Delhi to be specific, for at least a year next year, leaving California in October. My partner wants a career in directing and wants to come to India to shoot a couple of low-budget movies to build his portfolio before applying to schools. We are both fairly young, 19 and 24.

I want to live in India to learn more about the culture, try to learn Hindi, and photograph my time there. I will be applying for a tourist visa.

Here is a rough idea of what my partner wants to do in India: shoot a few low budget/short films in India. He wants to possibly hire Indian actors/actresses and maybe a small number of crew members. Can he come to India on a tourist visa and then send an application to the Ministry for permission to make his film(s)?

Does anybody have advice or experience relating to my partner's situation? Thank you in advance for any words of advice.

machadinha

I really don't know, but change of visa purpose is not normally allowed. So by that logic he'd have to arrange it in advance.

Those journalist visas (which I assume is what he'll need)* are said to be a hassle to obtain btw, but for his purposes he probably couldn't do without one, I mean it sounds like more than just discreetly taking some snaps. I'd try and allow for plenty of time to go through the process, some of those special (non-tourist) visas are said to easily take months to acquire. (Although I see that Swedish embassy site claims the procedure for movie-makers should have been simplified. They also seem to assume you have everything including crew and locations etc. set though, which doesn't seem to be the case here.)

(* In fact that Swedish embassy specifies he and/or his crew will need a business visa for the purpose instead. Not said to be easy either, although they make the whole procedure sound quite easy.)

They also state quite plainly:

etc., and so on. I wouldn't take the "can" here to mean it's optional, and it doesn't read that way in context either. In fact I'd say all the requirements are pretty neatly summed up there, I'm not sure what's unclear about it. Note that those requirements may follow under "documentaries" not "feature films," but except where noted they clearly apply to both categories.

For yourself, be aware that even on the US 10-year tourist visa, you are not allowed to stay for longer than 180 days in one go. While this seems to be a mere formality, it does involve you leaving and re-entering the country after any such period, and getting your visa stamped on the way.

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mazha

Get in touch with this person.

GoanCanuck

Legally he can not make movies while he is in India on a tourist visa. He will need a business visa and he will have to set up a company through whom he can pay the actors/actresses.

jyotirmoy

And many many formalities and clearances from many departments.