Ramoji Film City (RFC) is the world’s largest integrated film studio complex on over 2,000 acres of land. It is also a popular tourism and recreation centre, containing both natural and artificial attractions.
Film producer Ramoji Rao, head of the Ramoji Group, opened the facility in 1996. The creation of the Ramoji Film City was an outcome of the Group's association with Indian cinema through Usha Kiron Movies, its dedicated film production house which has produced over 80 films in several languages such as Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi and Bangla. Located at the entrance of the film city are the 3-star hotel Tara and a 5-star hotel Sitara for the film production units as well as for tourists. Once inside, there is Hawa Mahal, based along the lines of the Golconda Fort, which is on a hilltop from where one can have a bird’s eye view of the whole studio.
A Japanese garden, the ETV planet (a multi-purpose editing suit), a pool, artificial waterfalls, breathtakingly accurate airport terminal, hospital set, railway station, churches, mosques and temples, shopping plazas, palace interiors, chateaus, rural complexes, urban dwellings, and a winding highway are some other places for tourists to visit. For shopping enthusiasts, there are nice handicrafts, pottery and other decorative articles for purchase.
The vintage Film City coaches takes the visitors on a tour around the studios. Each of these well-conducted tours will let you have a tètè-è-tètè with the stunning locales. The visitors are shown around the various sets where blockbusters have been filmed or the numerous gardens where the Indian song sequences were choreographed. There is Parade, a prop-shop, where the costumes of actors as shown in a film can be ordered. There are several settings in the studios which lead the visitors from streets of the Mauryan Empire or the Mughal Empire or even the American Wild Wild West. There's also the famous Hollywood sign displayed on the hills at the studios.
If you are tired and hungry then there's enough variety of food on the platter. Alampana, Chanakya, Gunsmoke and Ganga Jamuna are the restaurants that are available to pamper the taste buds.
The Film City even has honeymoon packages for the newly married couples who are on the lookout for a getaway destination. It caters to the corporate world by offering banquet halls.Magadha, Meena Bazaar, Frontierland or Black Cat Warehouse are a few avenues from where the visitors can carry home souvenirs of their visit.
