Dreamy destinations straight outta silver screen

The impact of films on tourism is contributing significantly to travel trends. Domestic and foreign tourists are hopping over to locations that have the face of some of our superstars and are making mere glimpses captured through the eye of the camera, into a dream-like reality

Sand dunes, mountain peaks, lush green habitats rich with flora and fauna, forts and historical places spilling over with tales of royal pageantry, wealth and grandeur, architectural marvels that leave you gaping in wonder, places of worship, the humbling beauty of the sea and water bodies dotted with islands... India is a land of great beauty and infinite variety.

These dreamy destinations, despite their pitch as “God’s Own Country”, “Heaven on Earth” or swank locations outside our borders, draw attention from publicity garnered through locales captured on celluloid or celebrity stars, who double as brand ambassadors.

So complete is the association of tourism with Bollywood that the “Incredible India” campaign became more credible after it roped in a saleable star as its brand ambassador. It is another matter that the “against the establishment” remarks of the actor soured the relationship leading to termination of the contract. He will soon be succeeded by yet another popular and non-controversial star to promote Indian tourism.

Domestic tourists and those visiting from foreign lands have a weakness for film-centric spots. “I want to see Jag Mandir, the beautiful lake palace where actress Raveena Tandon got married. How do we get there?” I heard an excited NRI ask the guide at the City Palace in Udaipur teeming with visitors both domestic and foreign on a recent trip.

Go to any of the forts and palaces in the Mewad and Marwad region and you are sure to learn about films, actors and songs shot in the backdrop. The vintage collection of the Udaipur Rajas boasts of a variety of vehicles ranging from horse drawn carriages to antique bikes and cars.

Rolls Royce, Mercedes Benz, Morris Minors and other beauties occupy a place of pride here with the guide taking a special interest in displaying the car used in the latest Bollywood film ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ alongside that of the famous car in the Bond film ‘Octopussy’.

Boatman Jaswant Singh Rathod beams with pride as he points out the place where Deepika Padukone starrers ‘Ram Leela’ and ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’ were filmed and tells us that both films were big hits – his tone suggesting subtly that the place had something to do with the commercial success of the films.

At the Amber Fort in Jaipur, where a couple of scenes for the hugely successful film ‘Bajirao Mastani’ were shot, a guide who claims to have been in the profession for over forty years talks about films from the south as well as scenes from the immortal classic ‘Mughal-e- Azam’ shot in the fort premises. “I saw MGR and Shivaji starrers from the south here as also films starring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Hema Malini and others.

This fort has been the venue for films made in different languages and is so beautiful that you cannot recreate its beauty in a film set,” he states quite correctly. ‘Baahubali’, the epic blockbuster with its terrific settings and mind-boggling graphics captured the imagination of audiences across the country, winning accolades including the coveted Padma Shri by the Government of India for director SS Rajamouli.

The film’s environs captured brilliantly on camera were sheer poetry, igniting the interest of the average movie-goer in the locations where it was shot. The Ramoji Film City with its various movie sets and Disney-like attractions was where a majority of the ‘Baahubali’ sequences, including the spectacular war scene was filmed.

The Orvakal Rock Gardens in Kurnool located on the NH-18 highway, the Athirapilly Falls, the largest waterfall on the Chalakudy River in Kerala’s Thrissur district and the lush evergreen forests of the Sahayadri range, in which the beautiful hill station Mahabaleshwar is nestled, are all gaining from the interest generated by the filming of ‘Baahubali’.

The ‘Sholay’ village, located in the hilly tracts on the route between Bengaluru and Mysore remains etched in public memory as the area traversed by Gabbar Singh, one of the most dreaded villains in Hindi cinema. The backwaters and lush greenery in “God’s Own Country” exploited in film after film accord equal importance to filmy gods (read stars) too.

The list of film stars who endorse locations in order to attract more tourists is quite a long one and in most cases the stars are in no way connected to the states they represent. Superstar Amitabh Bachchan who was born in Uttar Pradesh and lives in Mumbai has featured in several ad campaigns and television commercials for Gujarat Tourism as its brand ambassador.

He had earlier represented his hometown Uttar Pradesh too. Another reigning star Akshay Kumar is from Amritsar but is the brand ambassador for Canada, which has a sizeable Punjabi population. Television actress Prachi Desai who has also acted in a couple of feature films is the brand ambassador for Goa Tourism while Shimla-born Celina Jaitley is the face of Egypt.

Actor Saif Ali Khan who featured in hit films like ‘Cocktail’ and ‘Love Aaj Kal’ shot in locations across Britain, was the spokesperson for the ‘Bollywood Britain’ campaign of ‘Visit Britain’, the country’s national tourism agency.

The scenic backdrops, both Indian and foreign have been found to be irresistibly inviting for most Indians, with cinema working wonders not just for brands but also travel destinations. Switzerland tops the list of foreign locations with its lush green meadows, snow-capped Alps and pristine lakes that are like sheets of glass for many Yash Chopra films and made it the ideal honeymoon dream for most Indians.

The Keukenhof Tulip Garden in Netherlands with its colourful flowers remains an endearing tourist spot, as with London, Prague, Spain, Australia and Turkey in many a film. Goa’s rocking beaches, the Kashmir Valley, the Dal Lake and more recently Ladakh have also attracted Bollywood inspired tourists after each hit film shot in these regions.

Apart from attracting tourists through films and by being the face of different locations, film stars attract special visitors who pay for packages that take them on guided “Bollywood tours” in Mumbai. These tours include day trips to the Film City, private studios and drives past homes of film stars, which are an attraction in themselves.

Although pricey, there are a lot of diehard fans who eat, breathe and sleep movies willingly paying for these visits. Amitabh Bachchan’s house “Jalsa” and Shahrukh Khan’s bungalow “Mannat” have a huge number of fans and visitors particularly on weekends where they hope to catch a glimpse of the actors, according to travel operators.

The guided tours stop by the posh areas in Juhu and Bandra to allow tourists a glimpse. While some places look magical on the silver screen, there are some others whose beauty cannot be grasped through the eye of the camera. Whatever the impression, the impact of Bollywood on tourism is huge, contributing significantly to travel trends and patterns.

With Indian travel and tourism industry poised for a growth of 7.5 per cent in the year ahead, and the “visa on arrival” facility being extended to 43 nationalities from 12 countries in the past, it is hoped that the ‘Incredible India’ campaign will maximise focus on the new visa regime to attract tourists.

Given the interest evinced by domestic and foreign tourists, the Bollywood connect along with improved infrastructure and simplified procedures may provide the right formula to increase revenue from tourism. Larger than life cinema certainly has the power to make dream destinations dreamier, adding to the charm and glamour of stars as ambassadors, which is not easy to resist.

Several places of raw, untapped beauty and destinations with zero facilities are fast gaining popularity, thanks to the efforts of filmmakers scouting for the most picturesque locations. The combination of site and stars is unbeatable – thus luring domestic and foreign tourists with the promise of an unforgettable holiday in the lap of nature.