The government will seek advice from Bollywood names such as Madhur Bhandarkar, Ketan Mehta and Shyam Benegal to develop a film policy for the state.

A team of senior officials from various departments will hold a meeting with the film directors in Mumbai on June 1.

The Telegraph had highlighted how the state government was working on the film policy to promote regional films in the state where it would be mandatory for theatre owners to screen such films.

"We will meet officials from the Indian Film & Television Director's Association (IFTDA) on June 1," said a senior IAS official at the art, culture and youth affairs department. "We are going to seek their opinions and suggestions as the state government is working on a film policy."

The government has already planned to set up the state's own film city in Nalanda's Rajgir, around 70km southwest of Patna, and has already acquired a 20-acre stretch in Peelki for the same.

The Mumbai-bound officials include development commissioner Shishir Sinha, industries department principal secretary S. Siddharth, art, culture and youth affairs department principal secretary Chaitanya Prasad, art culture and youth affairs minister Shiv Chandra Ram and Bihar State Film Development and Finance Corporation Limited managing director Ganga Kumar.

Bihar has huge potential and the market value of the Bhopuri film industry is nearly Rs 2,500 crore. Around 100 Bhojpuri films are released every year. However, because of lack of infrastructure and other facilities, most Bhojpuri films are shot in Gujarat and Mumbai. Almost 60 per cent of the total films are shot in locations such as Silvasa, Vapi, Rajpipla, Umargon and Kutch among others.

"There will be many eminent personalities at the meet organised at Andheri's Millenium Club," said the official. "The most important among them are Madhur Bhandarkar, Shyam Benegal and Ketan Mehta. We are working according to chief minister Nitish Kumar's directive."

Shiv Chandra expressed his happiness over the move and said: "We are moving towards our goal gradually. We will discuss how to go ahead with the film policy. This is just the first of several meetings for the development of the Bihar film industry. I have also decided to seek an appointment with Amitabh Bachchan ji and invite him to Bihar to promote films."