India's film industry is one of the biggest, most profitable in the world, and recently it has been using Australia as a location for some of its features.
The potential that represents for promoting Australia as a holiday destination has been recognised by the New South Wales Government.
It has launched a tourist campaign on the back of the release of Bollywood's Hey Baby, and is hoping to lure Indian movie-goers Down Under.
"We think it's really, really important," said Matt Brown, the NSW Tourism Minister.
"People do relate to iconic things such as the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, Bondi Beach. So to be able to see that - see people enjoying themselves, interacting around these icons - really will have a powerful impact, we think, with the Indian audience."
Hey Baby is the first Bollywood film to feature an Australian location that is central to the entire film.
The Indian bachelors in the story live in Sydney.
Anupam Sharma is a producer who handled things in Australia for Hey Baby.
He has seen tourism on the back of Bollywood movies work well in other countries, such as Singapore and Malaysia.
"That's one of the most sure-shot ideas of promoting tourism around the world, for the simple reason that Bollywood has got an effective reach of over a billion people," he said.
"But most importantly, messages [get] sent out - it has always been proven [that] messages sent out sub-textually as part of a script or story are more effective and more attractive.
"Hey Baby is not putting up a placard saying 'This is Sydney, come and visit'. It's actually got Sydney as a part of its storyline."
India's recent economic boom has spawned a new upper-middle class - around 300 to 400 million of them.
These people have money and they travel.
Sharma says if they see how vibrant Sydney is, they will be on their way.
"Absolutely. When ... Indian films started scripting Australia into the script, ... the number of queries we started to get [that] would be, 'Can we go and see the place where that song was shot' ... There were competitions on how to spell didgeridoo in India when a film called Dil Chahta Hai was released in 2000," he said.
"Films is a religion in India."
source
The potential that represents for promoting Australia as a holiday destination has been recognised by the New South Wales Government.
It has launched a tourist campaign on the back of the release of Bollywood's Hey Baby, and is hoping to lure Indian movie-goers Down Under.
"We think it's really, really important," said Matt Brown, the NSW Tourism Minister.
"People do relate to iconic things such as the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, Bondi Beach. So to be able to see that - see people enjoying themselves, interacting around these icons - really will have a powerful impact, we think, with the Indian audience."
Hey Baby is the first Bollywood film to feature an Australian location that is central to the entire film.
The Indian bachelors in the story live in Sydney.
Anupam Sharma is a producer who handled things in Australia for Hey Baby.
He has seen tourism on the back of Bollywood movies work well in other countries, such as Singapore and Malaysia.
"That's one of the most sure-shot ideas of promoting tourism around the world, for the simple reason that Bollywood has got an effective reach of over a billion people," he said.
"But most importantly, messages [get] sent out - it has always been proven [that] messages sent out sub-textually as part of a script or story are more effective and more attractive.
"Hey Baby is not putting up a placard saying 'This is Sydney, come and visit'. It's actually got Sydney as a part of its storyline."
India's recent economic boom has spawned a new upper-middle class - around 300 to 400 million of them.
These people have money and they travel.
Sharma says if they see how vibrant Sydney is, they will be on their way.
"Absolutely. When ... Indian films started scripting Australia into the script, ... the number of queries we started to get [that] would be, 'Can we go and see the place where that song was shot' ... There were competitions on how to spell didgeridoo in India when a film called Dil Chahta Hai was released in 2000," he said.
"Films is a religion in India."
source
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