Woo Hollywood with ‘Make In India’ Campaign, Boost Country’s Image & Revenues

What’s common between Hollywood productions such as ‘Titanic’, ‘Top Gun’, ‘Avatar’, ‘Skyfall’, ‘Life of Pi’, some of the Harry Potter films, and India? Now, what’s common between ‘Eat Pray Love’, ‘The Beautiful Exotic Marigold Hotel’, ‘A Mighty Heart’, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ or ‘Mission Impossible 4’?

If you could say it in two words, it would be ‘Hollywood’ and ‘India’.

Hollywood’s focus on India isn’t a new love story. Hollywood has been increasingly leveraging on the IT boom and digital technology platform that has been so advanced in India, that most of the films get their post production ‘special touch’ from this country. That’s something the world has marvelled about.

But, there is another side to India’s tryst with Hollywood. It is about ‘India’ that’s more of visual than the ‘effect’ that comes from within the walls of a digital studio.

India has played a good host for numerous Hollywood films in bits and pieces, whenever the story has manoeuvered into the ‘poverty ridden’ bylanes of India. But, India has more to offer than its slums and hunger. The country with a vibrant economy and thousands of cultures in its lap can sure serve as an excellent location for Hollywood productions too.

India boasts of world’s biggest film industry with nearly 3 million theatre admissions every year, and about 900 films hitting the screen in different languages. This would mean majority of these films would use different locations within the country (and abroad).

This apart, the country also has highly efficient infrastructure to support shooting activities with highest availability of technicians, equipments and human resources. India would stand to gain a lot if the country does its bit to promote its beautiful inlands and even well-equipped studios for Hollywood shoots.

What will it do to the country’s economy at large? The revenues will increase, is the simplest way of putting it. But, Hollywood productions using Indian locales will be mutually beneficial since the post production can be well-coordinated, and this would also mean that the Indian technicians get to experience/understand the technology used by Hollywood, thus gaining expertise on new vistas of film making.

However, there is something vital to India turning into a Hollywood destination as far as encouraging Hollywood to shoot in its premises. So far, this has been a difficult ordeal for Indian film makers who claim an outdoor shooting in India would require as many as 70 permissions to be taken from different departments of the government, before the activity begins. This red tapism would certainly work against India if the country is to attract Hollywood here.

With the inception of a Films Commission, India can cross this hurdle and turn the nation’s locations into revenue-generating models.
Film tourism is considered the most powerful tool to promote tourism destinations and be biggest revenue drivers in the emerging scenario. For this, India needs to recognise that branding and publicity would be conducive for an industry that can also be another potential employer who will create millions of jobs and experts in a creative medium.

Adopting a globally accepted standard can do much good to India; the world’s biggest film industry can also turn into the world’s best. In the previous year, India contributed nearly 0.5% of the GDP,, $ 8.1 billion, by means of Indian television and film industry. This can increase manifold if India can partner with Hollywood to set up units that can meet their requirements.