Plans similar centres in other south states, Gujarat, Delhi and Haryana
Whistling Woods International (WWI), a film, television, animation and media arts institute promoted by Bollywood producer-director Subhash Ghai, will be investing over Rs 50 crore in the next 5-8 years in its proposed facility at Hyderabad, said WWI president Meghna Ghai Puri.
“We got possession of 20 acre of land from the Andhra Pradesh government on October 15, 2009. Initial land housekeeping (wildgrowth cleanup, levelling and soil testing) is in process and we expect to commence the project early in 2010 with an expected rollout of the first full-time course by summer 2011,” she told Business Standard.
The Andhra Pradesh government has allotted the land at Taramati Baradari in Golkonda mandal for Rs 1,000 per acre.
At present, WWI has an institute in Mumbai with a capacity of 600 students. Over the last year and a half, around 150 students graduated from here. The institute has already opened its branch in Spain with the help of the local government and this will commence courses in mid 2010 with an intake of 200 students.
WWI Hyderabad will have verticals including education (film, TV, animation, special effects and ancillary media arts), hardware and software labs, indoor studios and external commonly-used sets like bunglow, police station and courtrooms, post-production suites (editing and sound), theatre floors, amphitheatre and other support services.
“We will commence WWI Hyderabad with three-month part-time courses for existing Telugu film and TV professional with 50 students for the first year and go on to house over 500 student once the institute is fully set up and all verticals are functional at full capacity with three-year full-time courses for media-industry freshers intending to start their career in the industry,” Puri said.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) media report, released annually during ‘Frames’ awards, has put the Indian media industry's requirement of skilled manpower to grow at 20 per cent a year – from 2.8 million in 2006 to 6.5 million in 2011.
“While these numbers should be taken with a pinch of salt, the media industry as a whole is expected to grow at approximately 15 per cent over the next five years and we estimate the realistic skilled manpower demand to be at least half of that (7-8 per cent),” she said.
WWI, Puri said, was planning to set up similar institutes in Chennai, Bangalore, Rajasthan, US, London and South Africa. “We are in advance stages of negotiations for centres in Dubai and Gujarat, while talks are in early stages for Delhi and Haryana centres. The investments and the capacities of these centres would depend on the size of the local industry and the plurality of courses and programmes we would run there. It would not be right to speculate on the same at this point,” she said.
