The Hindu Business Line : More countries wooing Bollywood to lure tourists

WHAT is the best way to attract tourists from India to their countries? Get the Hindi film industry to use spots there as locations in their films and there can be no better way of promoting tourism.

Recently, Singapore - not that it has been neglected - and Malaysia had showcased locations in their country to Indian cinema makers but the credit to keep a sustained campaign belongs to Switzerland.

As recently as August 8, the Swiss President, Mr Joseph Deiss, invited several Bollywood bigwigs like Smita Thackeray, Amit Khanna, Mukesh Bhatt, Vashu Bhagnani and Rajiv Rai as well as critic Ms Bhavana Somaya for a personal meeting when they had gathered for the Locarno Film Festival and hosted a special lunch to them.

Some years ago, a Swiss consular official, on being posted to Mumbai and using taxis before his car was made available to him, found that people here were familiar with Switzerland not by going there but by seeing Hindi films.

Since then, one of the key factors in tourism promotion for that country has been Bollywood, substantially if not entirely.

As Swiss International Air Lines, which flew the film barons, and Switzerland Tourism - which helped them familiarise themselves with the country - said in a release, that country's links with the Indian film industry has always been close.

"From the beginning of the 20th century, when cinema was still in its infancy, the country rapidly established itself as a favourite location with foreign film producers. Indian film makers started to travel to Switzerland much later."

But when they did, they began to pan the camera quite a bit. Now, there are companies which look after the support logistics for Indian film makers and they are familiar with Indian requirements, including finding enough extras if required for the mandatory song and dance sequences.

Every year, more than 20 Indian films are shot in Switzerland.

Switzerland was first `discovered' for Bollywood by Raj Kapoor in Sangam, followed closely by Shakti Samanta in the mid-60s when he shot the famous An Evening in Paris song, Akele akele kahan ja rahe ho, starring Shammi Kapoor and Sharmila Tagore.

Some fifteen years ago, Yash Chopra `rediscovered' it when he shot Faasle, followed by other hits like Chandni, Darr, Parampara and Dilwale Dulhaniya le Jayenge.