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Cinema takes you places

And now a company that brings together two glamorous industries, film and tourism

IDEAL HOLIDAY SPOTS Snow attracts tourists

During the 1960s and the 1970s, the snow-capped mountains and the verdant valleys of Kashmir formed the backdrop in most Hindi films. Remember Shammi Kapoor `yahooing' to the petite Saira Banu in Junglee amid the snow or Amitabh Bachchan reciting poetry to Rakhee in Barsaat ki ek raat even as they walk over green vales? Or for that matter, haven't you dreamt of visiting the Seven Wonders of the World as you watched Aishwarya Rai and Prasanth waltz around in Jeans?

Well, Sudhanshu Hukku of the Mumbai-based Novel Event Works tells you that Patni Point in Kashmir became a popular tourist spot after it made an appearance in over 150 Hindi films. "And today, with a boom in tourism, what better way to promote a pretty place than by ensuring that a film is shot there," asks Sudhanshu.

That thought became the raison d'etre for founding Locations World in 2003. Providing `brand' support is Manik Shah of MMS Holdings, a 60-year-old business associate of Hindustan Lever.

And on its board are director Ashutosh Gowariker, Manmohan Shetty (Imax and Adlabs), Supran Sen (secretary, Film Federation Of India), Kuldeep Verma (India Tourism Development Corporation), Vinay Nevalkar (founder, Asian Film Federation) and Kiran Shantaram (ex-Sheriff, Mumbai).

Talking about Locations, Sudhanshu says, "The brand strategy was to bring together two `glamorous' industries — film and tourism — under one roof, as films are a catalyst to tourism. Basically, we are trying to cash in on a trend."

To begin with, Locations targeted the Indian filmmaker and the foreign tourism boards as several films, ads and music videos were being shot abroad and filmmakers were constantly on the look out for virgin territories to introduce an element of freshness to their frames.

Over the past three years, Locations has evolved into an outbound location provider, not only bringing in local vendors as exhibitors but also trying to facilitate shoots. "It's a one-stop shop. Not only do we help filmmakers identify a location, we also take care of every aspect of the travel arrangements for the cast and crew — from ticketing to visas, from hotel stays to local online productions and even gap funding at times."

Sudhanshu, who has worked with Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy and Ashutosh Gowarikar, says, "There are three arms of Locations — the Exhibition Conference, Location Services and Locations Outbound. At the annual conference, we have been tackling issues such as the needs of a filmmaker and the role of the tourism industry in such situations. As for Services, we play facilitators for international film crews scouting for locations in India. The Outbound arm is for Indian filmmakers."

Incidentally, at this year's exhibition conference, director K. Balachander was presented with the DS Mittal Lifetime Award for his contribution to cinema.

The other aspect the company is looking at is tourism placement. "Here specifics such as topography of a place or its flora and fauna are addressed. For example, Amsterdam is famous for tulips. And if a film is shot at a particular tulip farm, then that place is promoted."

What next? Sudhanshu is looking at the South, especially the Telugu and Tamil film industries. "There's tremendous potential in the South. And I hope to get filmmakers interested."

Sudhanshu Hukku can be contacted at 098203 80810.

SAVITHA GAUTAM

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