Indian Locations Star In International Films
The villagers of Hal village near Khopoli on the Mumbai – Pune highway had their close encounter with Hollywood on 24th February 1977. On that day a film crew with three cameras headed by Hollywood cameraperson Douglas Slocombe arrived to shoot a short scene depicting Dharamsala. A thirty-one-year-old wonder kid named Steven Spielberg, on his first trip overseas, was directing a film about aliens. He asked the thousands of extras, assembled by Indian location manager Baba Sheikh, to point into the air at the same moment. Also appearing in the short scene were French New Wave director Francois Truffaut and actor Richard Dreyfuss as scientists who record a mystical musical note while being chased by hundreds of Indians. Though the shoot went off smoothly, importing the expensive camera equipment initially faced complications at the Mumbai airport customs department. The idea of shooting international films in India was in its infancy. Nevertheless, the film ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, went on to earn a record-breaking US$ 300 million and the India location made a two-minute appearance.
That was not the first chance for Indian locations to appear in Hollywood and international films. As much as Indian audiences like our stars singing and dancing in exotic foreign locations, for years international audiences yearning to travel to India get to see our country on the silver screen on a regular basis. Just recently, several films have been shot in India including, Life of Pi, Zero Dark Thirty, The Darjeeling Limited, Exotic Marigold Hotel, Lion, Eat Pray Love, Jobs, Million Dollar Arm, The Viceroy’s House and Victoria and Abdul.
Inviting international film crews to shoot in one’s country is now a huge business worldwide. The global film industry box office revenue is forecast to increase to fifty billion U.S. dollars in 2020 and Canada, Eastern Europe, UAE, and New Zealand are preferred locations for big budget films. At Cannes film festival in May 2018, almost 140 nations will offer their locations, talent and local filmmaking expertise to film producers. Each year the various film commissions housed in national pavilions set up shop along the Croisette and host networking events every day to discuss tax incentive, scouting and production services as well as providing logistical information regarding crew, talent, facilities, studios, and equipment. Film commissioners of various nations are on site to provide liaison with government departments and serve as a single window clearinghouse for all the information required by a filmmaker. In the competitive world of film locations, the modern film commissioners play many roles including producer, director, photographer, writer, publicist, business development executive as well as the region's ambassador at film festivals. In a people’s business, they build long-term relations, demonstrate the value of their industry through economic exposure, administer financial incentive packages and manage the demands of a multi-million dollar production in an increasingly high-tech and high profile industry.
In the past few years, India has done away with its archaic rules for shooting in India and replaced it with a forward-thinking organization called, Film Facilitation Office (FFO). This department housed in the National Film Development Corporation provides a single window clearance for filmmakers promotes India as a filming destination and provides the platform for film tourism in the country. It assists international film production companies in obtaining requisite permissions as also supporting India as a location for postproduction, visual fx and sound recording. There also exists the “Most Film Friendly State” award as part of the National Film Awards with the objective to encourage the State Governments to support the film industry.
At Cannes Film Festival 2018, Indian government is once again expected to give a bigger push to inviting the world’s biggest filmmakers to shoot and produce films in India.
