Movies News | Posted on Nov 28, 2007 at 02:34pm IST

Govt gets ticket to Bollywood ready for tourists

Prarthna GahilotePrarthna Gahilote, CNN-IBN

New Delhi: If Bollywood has you going crazy and you still don't know how to get a handful of stardust, then hold your breath. The Ministry of Tourism is now going to make Bollywood accessible to you. It’s new blockbuster awaiting a release: Hindi Film Tourism.

“Films have always promoted tourism. The Maharashtra government is looking at that circuit. They are in dialogue. We are working on it,” says S Banerjee.

The cue comes from the popularity of Hindi films the world over, second only to Hollywood in terms of annual film releases.

The plan is to offer NRIs and the foreign tourists a glimpse of Tinseltown up, close and personal. That would include: A tour of Film City in Mumbai, a trip of the famous film studios in Mumbai, watching the drill and the drama of shoots, the on location film shoots and in some cases even a meet the star opportunity. It’s a chance tourists are sure to buy.

“It’s a brilliant idea. I'd love to sign up. I fancy Om Shanti Om and if I get this, nothing is better,” says a tourist Peter Seenan.

“I'd love to be an extra in these films. A tour is just great,” says another tourist, Ed Anderson.

Perhaps it is this kind of fan following that has Bollywood Box Office collections go up by 29 per cent between 2001 and 2004.

And the Union Ministry only wants a spin off from this money spinner for itself.

Its confidence is drawn from the success of the Ramoji Film circuit organised by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Board in Hyderabad.

Few things are hard to resist: the smell of grease paint, the magic of 70 mm and the charm of star power. No wonder then that the ministry of tourism is all set to use this magic potion to woo the magic numbers to up its tourism statistics.

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