From beaches to mountain peaks, discreet tea plantations to colorful & crowded local markets, dense forests to barren deserts, and colonial buildings to ancient temples, the Indian sub-continent has it all. An extraordinary country of great beauty and contrast, India offers a diverse set of locations you can choose for filming. In India the Ministry of External Affairs & the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting are primarily responsible for providing filming permissions with the involvement of other ministries or institutions when required. One needs to have permit from Indian Government in place prior to applying for a visa in his country. The application must include an invitation letter from an Indian production service company as well as full project details including synopsis of the project, the intended location list, visiting crew details, equipment list and other relevant information related to filming in India.

Timeline for Permits

India has a single window clearance mechanism in place for national permit, however in addition to national permits; you would also need to take state/ local permits of the places you would be filming at. A simple b-roll shoot can take around 2-3 weeks to obtain permit, whereas filming at a heritage location can take up even 6-8 weeks. Fee varies basis the locations you are applying for. If your locations include a sensitive region like Jammu and Kashmir, or some restricted areas of North Eastern states then you should allow a lot of extra time for your application. In some of the cases, It’s advisable to avoid restricted areas all together unless absolutely unavoidable as your file would move through different ministries meaning more time for clearance and sometimes you might not even get the permission to shoot. For country specific advice regarding fees, processing times and procedure, you can check the visa section on the embassy or high commission web site in your home country. Also, if you are taking services of visa expediting companies, do keep in mind that they don’t often have the required experience to handle film permissions, so you should always cross reference their advice with your local advisor in India.  

Type of Visa

Travelling for scouting or meetings does not require a prior permission. You can just enter on a Business Visa or tourist visa for tourist related filming or photography. You can use basic handheld SLRs for recce; however, if you intend to mount your cameras for taking shots or have more people in the crew, then you would require prior permissions from authority.  There are two types of visas issued for filming;

1)          Journalist Visa (J)

2)          Filming Visa (F)

Journalist Visa

Given for documentaries, TV commercials, photo-shoots and videos, J-Visas are valid for three months from the date of Visa issuance. Secretary of Press and Information wing is responsible for handling ‘Documentary Shooting’ applications. And, if your production doesn’t include any contentious content, your visa application gets clearance in approximately 15 to 30 days. The following documents are required for clearance;

• Valid passport with at least 6 months left before expiry

• Passport sized photograph

• A photocopy of the passport

• A copy of the Visa application form filled out online

• Letter of invitation from the Indian concern

• Proof of identity and residential address

Points to Note:

• To expedite the visa process through ministry of external affairs in India, it is required that you give your Job Identity proof with clear detail on your employment. As specified by ministry, journalists are persons employed by a media house, company, news channel, newspaper, TV/Radio news station or a journalism-related content creation agency; so it is advisable to have your ID proof ready beforehand with purpose of visa clearly stated on visa application form
• Journalists who wish to travel to India to make a documentary must first contact the Press and Information Wing of the Indian Consulate in their country to begin the process.

 

Filming Visa

Given for films, TV dramas, web series, TV reality shows, F-Visas are valid for one year from the date of Visa issuance. Ministry of Information & Broadcasting is responsible for handling filming permission applications for national permits. The fee of USD 225 can be deposited through a demand draft along with all required documents submitted to the ministry. Alternatively, you can also file your application online through Film Facilitation portal. The FFO will then push your application through the Ministry of Information & broadcasting to have your cast and crew cleared by the Ministry of Home Affairs. You can file the application yourself or through your local producer in India, who would then chase the required departments to further obtain local and state permits. Here it is important to mention that while obtaining national permits are easy, the state and local permits are however pretty challenging for an outsider. Not all states in India follow the single window clearance system, and chasing different corporations, municipal bodies and departments can be a daunting task, so it is better to have a local producer involved.

Timeline of filming Permit

The national clearance process takes 21 working days (Monday to Friday) excluding any public holidays. Moreover, India is known to be a land of festivals. Being culturally diverse and extremely fervent, many national, regional and local festivals and holidays are observed throughout year in the country. If your application clashes with major Indian festivals such as Diwali, it might take more time to get your application processed. Similar is the case with filming in restricted areas. If your filming location has Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh or some parts of north eastern states, It would result in application needing clearance from Institutions like external affairs, defense ministry etc. So be prepared to wait for longer time. In some rare cases, you might not even get the permission to film in those areas, so always be prepared with a backup location just in case. The following documents are required for clearance;

·     A detailed script and synopsis in case of a Feature Film, TV/Web show and series and detailed concept in case of TV/Web Reality shows and series.

·     Passport details of the crew in tabular format along with copy of the passport

·     Detail of shooting locations in India and the period of shooting with breakdown

·     A list of equipment to be temporarily imported for filming in India

Points to Note:

• If your subject or content focuses on a living personality, a No-objection Certificate must be obtained from the person, or their legal heirs.
• If the film or drama is being produced in collaboration with an Indian production, a copy of the agreement between the two parties is required as part of the application. This agreement must clearly demarcate the responsibilities of each party.
• In few specific cases, a liaison offer may be assigned and shall accompany the crew through the shoot. The job of the liaison officer is to coordinate with local authorities to proceed smoothly.
• At the time of receiving permission for shooting in India from the FFO, you have to submit an undertaking to the Ministry of I&B as per the format available online, on the letterhead of the company who has applied for the filming permission.

Production Support services & Shooting Crew in India

Now that you have all the information regarding filming permits, all you need is a great script and a list of locations you have in mind, and you are all set to explore the exotic subcontinent. As stated earlier, India offers a diverse set of locations from islands, plateaus, deserts, backwaters, rivers to dense forests, hills and snowcapped mountain ranges. If you are unsure about which region has the location that suits your script the best, you can check out our in-depth article about the Best filming locations in India.

If you are looking for a film production service company or line producer in India, please feel free to contact Argalian Pictures. We have a highly skilled team of writers, director, DoP/ cinematographer, photographers, camera operators, camera assistants (focus puller), sound operator, grip, gaffer,  production driver to help you with secondary shooting support crew. You can also contact us to shoot footage for your production for research and location scouting purpose prior to your visit. We also undertake independent filming assignments, if visiting India or any particular location is not feasible for you. Our skilled crew is capable of working on projects from concept to completion and delivers the footage to the highest standards of relevance for assignments like interviews, stock footage, corporate videos, Ad films or any creative format required by your production.