Riding on the success of the Khushbu Gujarat Ki tourism campaign starring Amitabh Bachchan, the Narendra Modi government is set to woo Hollywood producers to shoot their films in the state. As a first step, it has decided to set up a stall at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
The rationale behind inviting film makers to shoot in Gujarat is that it would give impetus to the tourism industry in the state, in turn giving employment and income to the people.
The Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL) has set up a cell to handle and coordinate film shooting at various locations in the state.
“We are promoting Gujarat as a destination for film shooting. It has been learnt that the recent film of Farhan Akhtar, shot in Spain, resulted in an increase in tourism there. Similar things can happen here and getting film makers from across the globe to Gujarat was the next step,” state tourism secretary Vipul Mitra said.
“A cell has been set up at the TCGL to promote and facilitate film shooting in the state. We are also going to set up a stall at the Cannes Film Festival to be held next month (May 16-27) in France. This is to attract international film makers from across the world including those from Hollywood, to shoot in Gujarat,” he said.
The Confederation of Indian Industries has been asked to represent Gujarat at Cannes and market the state as a prime shooting location.
“I have made a presentation before the producers’ and directors’ guild in Mumbai recently which earned good response. A couple of films by well-known directors like Vishal Bharadwaj and Tigmanshu Dhulia have been recently shot in Gujarat. Films boost tourism,” he said.
According to Mitra, a number of Bollywood films would be shot in the state such as Dabangg 2, Vishal Bharadwaj’s Matru Ki Bijli and Saheb Biwi Aur Gulam Returns, for which shooting will begin in Devgadh Baria (Dahod) on May 15.
Last year, a James Bond film starring Daniel Craig was going to be shot in the state capital but due to some technical reasons, it could not happen.
