Destination bollywood

Zindagi… has done for Spain what Yash Chopra movies did for Switzerland. Naturally then,many tourism boards are now collaborating with Bollywood directors,and offering them exotic locations to shoot their films. “It works both ways,” says a senior official from the Spanish Tourism Board. “While film crews get all the facilities and guidance to shoot at the best of locales,tourism boards get tremendous scope to sell their country.”

Not just abroad,in fact,many resorts and spots within India,which have been uncovered,courtesy Bollywood,also become tourist hot-spots. Be it Hotel Naggar Castle in Manali of Jab We Met fame,the Chail Palace near Shimla,which was Ranchhodas Chanchad’s regal house in 3 Idiots or the Athirapally Rain Forest Resort,where Raavan was shot — are all new tourist destinations. Travel website TripAdvisor.in has recently come up with a list of exotic destinations from some of this decade’s most visually-inspiring movies. Both Chail Palace and Athirapally feature in it,along side eight others.

Sarla Chopra,a senior manager at The Chail Palace,says,“The tourist footfalls have increased at least by 35-40 per cent over the last two years after the release of 3 Idiots. The same thing happened 40 years ago when the Rajesh Khanna-Sharmila Tagore starrer Daag was shot here. Now,we get tourists from all over the country. Earlier,we hardly had people staying here from anywhere other than Punjab,Haryana or at the most,Delhi.”

Chopra says that it all happened by chance. “Raju Hirani’s team was supposed to shoot at the Institute of Advance Studies,but didn’t get permission. They just came visiting here and narrated the story to me. Just like that,I suggested that they shoot here and Mr Hirani considered it. Ultimately,it worked out. We didn’t expect the movie would be such a big hit,” she adds.

Ditto for the Rain Forest Resort in Athirapally,where Raavan was shot. The resort has been a well-known destination for South Indian movies but it was for the first time that it was featured in a mainstream Hindi movie and that did the trick.

“After Raavan,there was a 30 per cent increase in our occupancy. We had also launched a special ‘Ravana’ package,giving our guests an opportunity to visit various shooting locations of the film and also taste the cuisine preferred by Abhishek Bachchan,” says Kishore,senior manager at the resort.

Buoyed by the response to Leh tourism post 3 Idiots,even the Ministry of Tourism is planning to join hands with Bollywood to make movies as a medium to promote various destinations. “We will identify various locations in the country and call a meeting of leading directors to promote these destinations through the movies,” a senior Tourism Ministry official said. The Ministry is also planning to create a separate fund,through which films can be made to promote destinations. “The expenditure on the film project can be subsidised,” he adds.

But nonetheless,public memory is short and one-time exposure may not be enough. Chopra says that the wave stays for not more than a couple of years. “Right now,some meditation camp is on at the Chail property. When it’s telecast on some spiritual TV channel,we hope that also gets us some more tourists as the 3 Idiots wave is fading,” she laughs.