(This post is part of my Quora blog Service Diary**, where I write about my experiences as an Officer Trainee of the Indian Audit & Accounts Service. You can view the list of all posts here:- Training Diary**)
Today, we visited the Dadasaheb Phalke Filmcity (DPFC) as part of our group activity. This week (19 March - 27 March) has been in Mumbai as part of our attachment with Reserve Bank of India, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Securities Exchange Board of India.
I shall write my experience about the RBI, SEBI and TISS later and focus on today’s activity for now.
The DPFC, sprawling over 500 acres is located in Goregaon (East), is a Government of Maharashtra undertaking. Compared to its nemesis in Hyderabad, the Ramoji Film city, which is a private undertaking and also the largest film city in the world, DPFC is a rather modest enterprise. However, that is not to say that it is a lost cause. Its proximity to Bollywood and huge landscape makes it an attractive proposition to filmmakers all over India.
Initially, I was sceptical of attending this outing. However, given that this was mandated as a group activity, I decided to not skip it. We left for film city from Regional Training Institute, Bandra where we are put up at around 10:00. DPFC, which is a government undertaking, comes under the ambit of the Commercial Audit functions of the CAG. We had arranged for the visit through the PAG office in Mumbai. When we reached the film city the Public relations Officer ( whose name I forgot to ask) was ready to receive us. After short introduction about the history and the importance of the place, he soon took us to see around.
There are quite some shoots that are going on at the DPFC. Tarak Mehta ka Olta Chashma, set work for Bhansali’s Padmavati, Set construction for Jagga Jasos etc. are some of them. Meanwhile, we decide to shoot a short film for ourselves to make the roaming around more interesting. One of our OT’s was accompanied by his wife. We decided to make him the hero and shoot a romantic comedy thriller. And guess who was one of the main villains. Yours truly!!
The infrastructure and the facilities that are available in this campus are truly amazing. You wouldn’t believe that the island where Hrithik Roshan and Amisha patel gets stranded in Kaho Na pyar hain is in fact a small island amidst the Vihar lake, which is a part of the campus. We were also told that the artists had envisioned Shimla in the Film City campus for the purpose of a shoot.
As a solo activity, I would not have enjoyed a visit to the DPFC. However, visiting in a large group as official guests was a different experience. I am glad that I did not skip the event out of laziness.
The way in which the staff of DPFC treated us was very warm. This was followed by calling on the Director who is an IAS officer of Maharashtra Cadre. He also welcomed us very warmly and this was followed by lunch. We reached back our Regional Training Institute by 4:00 PM.