A film crew arriving at Rajaji is not a safari booking with a larger camera. Filming inside a protected area is a separate request with a separate permission attached to it, and the public pages of the reserve deal with the two subjects in different ways. This page records what the official Rajaji pages published for filming and camera charges when they were checked on 25 October 2026, what those pages do not publish at all, and the permission steps that sit behind every figure quoted here. It calculates no totals, it adds no tax, it promises no approval, and it never treats a published tariff as authorisation to enter with a crew.
Sources checked on 25 October 2026: the reserve’s official jungle safari booking page, the official About page where the tariff is published, and the official contact page. For the national procedure, India Cine Hub’s page on filming in forests, the central terms and conditions for filming issued under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the application form for filming in forest and wildlife areas hosted on the same portal.
What the official Rajaji pages published on 25 October 2026
The tariff distinguishes the purpose of the crew before it distinguishes anything else, and the published lines are stated against two categories that carry a charge:
- Feature film, per day: ₹1,00,000 for an Indian applicant and ₹2,00,000 for a foreigner.
- Documentary, per day: ₹10,000 for an Indian applicant and ₹30,000 for a foreigner.
- Refundable security, stated per film: for a feature film, ₹1,00,000 from an Indian applicant and ₹2,00,000 from a foreigner; for a documentary, ₹50,000 from an Indian applicant and ₹1,00,000 from a foreigner.
- Non-commercial filming with a fixed or movie camera: the tariff publishes no fee.
Two features of that list matter as much as the figures themselves. The security line is described by the reserve as refundable, so it is held rather than earned, and no document checked on 25 October 2026 states when it is taken back or against what. This page therefore does not add the daily charge to the security, does not add GST or any other tax, and does not publish a combined engagement figure: which lines apply, in what order and on what terms are questions for the office rather than arithmetic for a visitor to perform in advance.
The commercial camera line that does not agree with itself
A commercial movie or video camera falls in a different part of the tariff, and this is where the published pages contradict each other. The main tariff page and the official About page publish ₹500 for an Indian applicant and ₹1,500 for a foreigner. Several zone pages on the same site publish ₹2,000 and ₹4,000 for the same category. Both sets of figures were live on 25 October 2026.
This page therefore quotes no single settled rate for a commercial movie or video camera, and you should not quote one either. Treat the disagreement as a reason to ask: email [email protected] or call the reserve office on +91 9411568917 during the 10AM to 5PM working window, name the exact camera and the exact use you have in mind, and ask which published line the reserve applies to it. Until a written reply is in your hands, any figure read on a website or passed on by an intermediary stays provisional, and a budget built on it stays provisional too.
Where SLR rates appear, and where they do not
SLR camera charges appear on some zone pages of the reserve site but not on the main tariff page and not on the Chilla page, as checked on 25 October 2026. There is consequently no single official SLR rate that this page can print as the reserve’s rate. If your shoot uses an SLR body, ask the office which page governs your zone, and get that answer in writing in the same way you would for the commercial camera line. For ordinary still photography on a safari without a crew, our wildlife photography guide covers what visitors routinely carry and shoot, and our entry fees, timings and permits guide covers the ordinary safari permit structure you would be working alongside.
What the reserve portal does not publish
Checked on 25 October 2026, the public reserve portal publishes none of the following:
- No pre-wedding filming or photography category, and no pre-wedding rate.
- No film application form for this reserve.
- No approval path showing who applies, who decides and in what order.
- No crew limits, vehicle limits or equipment lists.
- No filming-specific terms and conditions.
- No drone policy for filming or photography.
Each of those is an absence in the source rather than an omission by this page: nothing has been inferred from silence. Where a neighbouring subject has its own guide on this site it is linked rather than guessed at, so the drone question is handled in our drone photography rules article, which sets out what is and is not published. If you want a pre-wedding shoot, the honest starting point is a written question to the reserve office, not a rate copied from a private vendor’s page.
A published charge is not a permission
This is the most important sentence on this page: seeing a fee in a tariff does not mean the reserve has authorised you to film. A tariff line tells you what a category costs once permission has been granted. It says nothing about whether permission will be granted, to whom, for which script, on which dates, with what crew or under what supervision. The public portal publishes the charges and publishes no film application form, no approval path and no filming terms, so the charge and the permission are two separate matters that have to be settled separately.
The practical consequence is ordering. Ask for permission first, in writing, and only then discuss payment against whatever conditions the permission carries. A crew booked on the assumption that payment is the approval risks a vehicle, a travel plan and a shoot day on the strength of a guess. Our operator and claim verification guide applies the same habit to ordinary safari bookings: take the claim from an official source, in writing, before money moves.
The central procedure that applies to protected areas
Filming in a protected area is not only a state matter. India Cine Hub, the government filming information portal, states on its filming-in-forests page that filming in protected areas is permitted by the Wildlife Division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The terms and conditions for filming published on the same portal set out conditions that include permission from the State Chief Wildlife Warden, approval of the script and supervision during filming, together with prohibitions on filming between sunset and sunrise, on the use of aircraft, and on walking on foot inside the area unless express written permission has been granted. The portal also hosts an application form for filming in forest and wildlife areas.
Those are central conditions. They are not rules published by this reserve on its own portal, and this page does not present them as reserve rules. What they do tell you is the shape of the process you would be entering: a state wildlife authority that reads the script before a camera arrives, supervision on the ground, restricted hours and restricted movement. Read the central documents at the links above, then ask the reserve office how they are applied to this reserve, because that last question is precisely what the public pages leave open.
Permission steps to follow before you pay anything
- Fix your category. Feature film, documentary, commercial movie or video camera, or non-commercial fixed camera. The category decides which published line you are asking about and how much of the tariff is even relevant to you.
- Write to the reserve office. Use the official contact page, email [email protected] or call +91 9411568917 inside the 10AM to 5PM window, and state your dates, zone, crew size, equipment and purpose.
- Ask which tariff line applies. For a commercial camera, ask explicitly which of the conflicting published rates the reserve uses, and ask for the reply by email.
- Ask what permission is required and who grants it. Request the application form the reserve expects, the approval path, whether a script must be submitted, and whether supervision or an escort is imposed.
- Ask about the refundable security. When it is taken, what it is held against, and the conditions and timeline for its return.
- Ask about drones and crew movement. The portal publishes no drone policy and no filming crew rules, so ask rather than assume, and record the reply with the rest of your correspondence.
- Keep the written reply. Do not treat a phone call, an intermediary’s assurance or a payment receipt as permission to film.
If your filming is attached to a safari booking on a particular date, the ordinary booking questions still apply alongside it: our cancellation and rescheduling guide and the morning versus evening timing guide cover what is published, and what is not published, about changing a booking after payment.
What this page deliberately does not calculate or promise
- No totals. No daily charge is added to any security deposit, and no subtotal, GST or tax is computed, because no official page publishes a combined filming figure for this reserve.
- No settled commercial camera rate. The ₹500 and ₹1,500 figures and the ₹2,000 and ₹4,000 figures are both reported as published, and neither is offered as the rate that applies to you.
- No guarantee of permission. Nothing here states or implies that an application will be approved, that a date will be free, or that any script will clear review.
- No claim that payment authorises entry. A paid tariff line is not a permit to bring a crew into the reserve.
- No invented rules. Central conditions are labelled as central conditions, and silence on the reserve’s own pages is reported as silence.
Filming at Rajaji questions answered
What did the official Rajaji pages show for filming charges on 25 October 2026?
Two charged categories and a refundable security, printed here as published. A feature film is shown at ₹1,00,000 per day for an Indian applicant and ₹2,00,000 per day for a foreigner, and a documentary at ₹10,000 and ₹30,000 per day for the same two classes. The refundable security is stated per film: ₹1,00,000 and ₹2,00,000 for a feature film, and ₹50,000 and ₹1,00,000 for a documentary, again for Indian and foreign applicants. Filming with a non-commercial fixed or movie camera carries no published fee. This page adds no subtotal, no tax and no combined engagement figure, because no official page publishes one.
Is there one confirmed rate for a commercial movie or video camera?
No, and this page does not print one. The main tariff page and the official About page publish ₹500 for an Indian applicant and ₹1,500 for a foreigner, while several zone pages on the same site publish ₹2,000 and ₹4,000 for the same category. Both sets of figures were live when checked on 25 October 2026, so the reserve’s own pages disagree. Ask the reserve office which line it applies to your camera and use, and get that answer in writing, before you budget for a shoot.
Does paying the published tariff give permission to film inside Rajaji?
No. A published charge is what a category costs once permission has been granted; it is not itself an approval, and nothing on the public reserve portal converts a payment into authorisation to bring a crew inside. That portal publishes no film application form for this reserve, no approval path, no crew limits, no filming-specific terms and no drone policy, as checked on 25 October 2026. Separately, India Cine Hub states that filming in protected areas is permitted by the Wildlife Division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and its published central terms require permission from the State Chief Wildlife Warden, approval of the script and supervision during filming, and prohibit filming between sunset and sunrise, the use of aircraft, and walking on foot inside the area unless express written permission is granted. Those are central conditions, not rules published by this reserve.
Can I organise a pre-wedding shoot at Rajaji?
The public reserve portal publishes no pre-wedding category and no pre-wedding rate, as checked on 25 October 2026, so there is no official figure for this reserve that this page can quote. Do not lift a pre-wedding rate from a private photography site and treat it as the reserve’s tariff. Write to the reserve office through the official contact page and ask whether such a shoot is permitted, on what terms, under which permission and with what equipment limits, then keep the reply.
How do I contact the reserve about filming, and what should I get in writing?
Use the official contact page at https://rajajitigerreserve.uk.gov.in/contact-us.aspx, which lists the reserve office number +91 9411568917 and the support address [email protected] for the 10AM to 5PM working window. Ask which published tariff line applies to your camera and crew, which permission is required and who grants it, which application form the reserve expects, how the refundable security is taken and returned, and whether any supervision, hour or movement conditions apply. Get those answers by email before you pay anything, and treat a receipt as proof of payment rather than proof of permission.