• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Shailesh Menon

Plans to take select team of producers, directors to Finland; arrange for familiarisation programme

Mumbai , Sept. 11

A romantic song shot in the exquisite plains of Rovaniemi (the capital of Finnish Lapland) in autumn, a reindeer-sleigh chase, a hot 'n cuddly sequence filmed in an igloo, conflict and the Blessed Santa helping out.

These could be some of the scenes in upcoming Bollywood flicks, thanks to the "win-win" gesture of Finnish Tourism Board (FTB). Following the Swiss Tourism Board, FTB has decided to pursue Bollywood to promote its tourist locales.

FTB is planning to take a select team of producers and directors to Finland to try their luck. "We had arranged a Finland familiarisation programme some time back to get Bollywood producers to know Finland. Our first initiative will be to get some producers there and persuade them to set up their cameras. The Board will try to help the filmmakers in all aspects of film production.

May offer sops

"Location subsidies and exclusive shooting permissions will also be looked into," said Mr Sven Hansen, Regional Director, FTB, who was in the city to attend a Board workshop.

The Board plans to "sell" the midnight sun and Northern Lights of the archipelago. The Scandinavian country also boasts of housing a premier citizen, Santa Claus.

"Now that there is a direct flight to Helsinki, we will market our tourism spots in a better way in India," Mr Hansen told Business Line. The Swiss success story has got the tourism boards in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and the US busy.

Many boards keen

"Several tourism boards come to us with easy propositions to shoot films in their locales. They offer us subsidies (even on carriers) and production assistance to complete shooting and promote their tourism spots.

"Cash-strapped boards such as the Singapore Tourism Board have even set aside money to invest in Bollywood productions," said an executive at Yashraj Films.

According to Mr P.K. Gupta of Rajashri Productions, filmmakers these days prefer newer locations for shooting their films.

"Newer locations add novelty to films. Moreover, Bollywood filmmakers are now having location options to choose from," Mr Gupta said.

Among the recent Bollywood releases, Aamir Khan-starrer Fanaa was partially shot in Poland while Gangster, the Mahesh Bhatt flick, was done in Korea. Dhoom II has Brazil as its base and Don, the Shah Rukh-starrer, has sequences shot in Malaysia. Kabir Khan-directed Kabul Express is made in Kandahar and Kabul.

More Stories on : Strategy | Tourism | Cinema

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
RSWM to unveil new logo

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line