BANGALORE: The Karnataka tourism minister G Janardhana Reddy yesterday announced his government‘s plans to build a film city similar to the Ramoji Rao Film City at Hyderabad.

The minister said that the possibility of setting up a one-of its- kind film city in the country would be explored on a public-private-partnership basis.

The proposed film city would be named after late Kannada film thespians Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan.

If the proposal was accepted by the Karnataka chief minister and other cabinet members, the film city would be set up at Hesaraghatta where a land has already been earmarked for a film city.

As an acknowledgement of Vishnuvardhan‘s contributions and service to the Kannada film industry, the state government also decided to name its annual lifetime achievement award after him.

"The award would henceforth be called Dr. Vishnuvardhan Lifetime Achievement Award," said CM B S Yeddyurappa while conceding to the suggestion of the members of the Sandalwood industry.

The state government has also decided to set up a Vishnuvardhan memorial in Bangalore or at Mysore at a cost of Rs. 100 million.

While the place for the memorial has not been decided, opinions differed as to where it would be located with a faction of the Sandalwood industry wanting it to be set up at Abhiman Studio in Uttarhalli in Bangalore. The CM said that the proposed memorial would be built after consulting the family members of the late star.