Jaipur - the pink city is trying to set up a film city to encourage film production in jaipur, got a shot in the arm with the first ever muhurat of a film here. The muhurat shot of venus production's yet untitled film was taken at hotel raj mahal palace with amisha patel and bobby deol depicting a scene. akshay khanna, prithvi kapoor, ashita and suhasini mulay of bhuwan shome fame are the other star cast in this movie.

The film producers have been shooting in Rajasthan state particularly in jaipur for last half of a century, but it was for the first time that the muhurat of a bollywood movie was done here. The producers of the movie hail from rajasthan, but the inspiration to shoot the film in jaipur came from the director-duo abbas-mastaan, who barely a month ago shot a kareena kapoor-bobby deol starrer ajnabee here for first time. About half a dozen movies have been lined to be shot in the state, Boney kapoor is already shooting a film near Jodhpur starring shahrukh khan and karishma kapoor. The venus production movie's story line revolve around bobby deol and amisha patel. Its a love story where the girl weigh love above wealth despite family opposition. Amisha, who has two super hits kahon na pyaar hai and "gadar" behind her, said she was fascinated with the theme of the film and immediately jumped at the idea of doing the film because of its strong story line. She said the success of gadar, a period film has forced the bollywood producers to think in terms of choosing the right story as the viewers' taste has undergone a change. "Now nobody can take the cinegoers for ride. The film should not only entertain it should also hold the viewers with a strong theme" said amisha.

The state government of rajasthan formed a committee with surendra golcha, mor mukut, mahendra surana and the secretary tourism lalit panwar. This committee will study the prospects of setting up a film city offering incentives to the producers. The jaipur development authority has already earmarked land about 12 km from here on jaipur-agra national highway. Golcha said they have an un professional attitude and they do not stick to the business promises made with the producers. He said for hiring raj mahal for shooting the muhurat shot he was offered a different package, but when he decided to shoot the movie in raj mahal he was asked to pay a higher price as rentals. He said as the unit landed in jaipur he had no option but to accept the terms of the company which runs raj mahal.

With the entry of five major multiplex operators into the Jaipur film exhibition arena, viz. Inox, PVR, Reliance Adlabs, Fun Republic and Cinemax, twentyeight screens will be added to the present seventeen screens by the end of 2007 and 30 more screens will be added at the end of 2008.

At WTP, PVR will be setting five screens with its capacity of 1137 seats in a show, inclusive of an exclusive theatre of Gold class with a seating capacity of seventy seats. It will be an altogether new experience for the movie lovers of the Pink City. Later, PVR plans to set up a chain of budget multiplexes across Rajasthan.

All these cinema halls will not have neon lights, plasma display TV’s or an up market cafeteria. Only the auditorium will be air-conditioned, while the rest of the multiplex will be air- cooled. All foam seats will make way for recliners with plastic backs to prevent vandalism. The firm intends to introduce PVR Talkies in 200 numbers in tier-II and tier-III cities across the country, over the next three years.

The big players of multiplex cinema halls are fast expanding their net work in North India with a view to monopolize whole of film business in particular areas in their hands. According to Deepak, Business Operations head of Fun Cinema Group in Jaipur, at present Fun Cinema is trying to acquire cinemas in Jaipur under the strategy of gaining catchment area. Already, we have started with two screens at Time Square in Vidhyadhar Nagar and very soon, we shall be having six more screens in the adjoining Jhotwara Colony. Also we propose to have four screens in Malviyanagar, aiming at twelve screens in all.

Apart from Inox multiplex, the jaipur city already has an external player in the form of First Cinema with two screens, which belong to Sumant Bhargava of Delhi. Located adjacent to Entertainment Paradise with three screens and sprawling complex including spacious Food Court and several other amenities, First Cinema on the second floor is struggling for its survival with quality service for city cinegoers. As much as 35 percent bookings of cinema tickets is done through telephone, added Chauhan. Moreover choice dishes are served on the seats within cinema halls, with minute cleaning of the seats after every show.

Now the competition between the individual owners of cinema halls, and multiplex chain operators. While the all India operators divide their expenses into large number of units all over India, the individual owners face mounting burden of expenses single handedly. In Jaipur, already the control of Vaibhav multiplex and Space Multiplex has passed on to Inox.

The Surendra Golecha owner of Golecha Multiplex tell that "Big players are advancing their steps towards Jaipur at an accelerating pace. However we have till now been following the policy of ‘Stand Alone’ in running our multiplex. In future too our strategy will remain the same. We have always tried to be innovative and have always aimed at better service to our patrons and will continue to do so. We will not tie up with any big chain of cinemas.”