Gurgaon's Kingdom of Dreams faces funds crunch, uncertain future

The promoter of Kingdom of Dreams, a complex of auditoriums built in 2010 in Gurgaon’s sector 29 to promote Indian culture and performing arts, has sought financial support from the ministry of tourism to stay operational.

The promoter of Kingdom of Dreams (KoD), a complex of auditoriums built in 2010 in Gurgaon’s sector 29 to promote Indian culture and performing arts, has sought financial support from the ministry of tourism to stay operational.

HT Image

The Rs 350-crore entertainment project is facing cash flow issues and paucity of funds for further expansion.

KoD promoter Great Indian Nautanki Company (Ginc) met the ministry of tourism secretary Dr Lalit K Panwar on Monday seeking financial support and contended they would be forced to shut down KoD due to lack of special financial sops. Ginc will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

A screen grab of the homepage of Kingdom of Dreams website.

According to Ginc, KoD is India’s answer to the Opera House in Sydney, the Esplanade in Singapore and the Royal National Theatre in London.

The complex, spread over nearly six acres, receives around 700,000 visitors annually.

“We need to add more shows to make the project commercially viable and increase annual footfall to 1 million. Our in-house productions Zangoora and Zhumroo and Cultural Gully are not enough to sustain the project. We need to produce at least two more shows that would fetch an investment of over Rs 50 crores each,” Ginc managing director Anumod Sharma said.

Ginc, a joint venture of Apra Group and Wizcraft International Entertainment, also asked the ministry to make KoD part of the Incredible India campaign and include it in its itinerary for luxury trains such as Palace on Wheels.

It also sought restructuring of its balance loan amount for longer term period with moratorium period and reduced rate of interest. It also wants the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) to give it two years moratorium period and extension of lease period to 66 years from 15 years and provide financial assistance under large-scale foreign exchange earning project.

The firm applied for large-scale foreign exchange funding of about Rs 100 crores from the tourism ministry two years ago but nothing materialised, said Sharma.

Huda had filed a case against KoD on November 10, under section 138 of the Negotiable instruments Act, IPC after a Rs 3.92 crore cheque from KoD bounced.