South by south on celluloid

TOURISM: The Sri Lankan tourism board doles out a slew of incentives to attract Indian film producers.

After wooing Indian tourists in the general category with a host of innovative promotional schemes, the island nation is now eyeing a share of Bollywood's pie as a film destination. The Sri Lankan Tourism Board in association with the Government of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Airlines and National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka has chalked out plans to aggressively promote the island by offering incentives to Indian film directors and producers.

The country is targeting at generating $100 million through film shoots a year. In the last 20 years, over 50 films have been shot in Sri Lanka and the country aims to bring the numbers up to 10 films a year.

As per the new film destination scheme, production houses which decide to shoot in Sri Lanka will be facilitated with venue arrangement, on-ground transportation, film equipment and production assistance.

The board plans to capitalise on the island's tropical climate, good connectivity, and support from the local hospitality industry by providing all necessary services, and lodging at special rates.

"We have identified vendors, selected hospitality partners, and production facilities are in place to ensure smoother ground operations. Location tariff and charges levied per film have been reduced by as much as 25-50 per cent by the Sri Lankan government. Also, Indian producers can now introduce more film prints in Sri Lanka than the only two original prints, that was allowed earlier," said Malraj Kiriella, director marketing, Sri Lanka Tourist Board.

"Bollywood movies have been using the same stereotyped snow-capped mountain locations. Sri Lankan tourist destinations will give the producers a unique and fresh location to shoot. In addition, the Sri Lankan film industry, which is more than 50-years-old, can also provide assistance to film units in terms of the latest equipment, local staff, extras, and other services required," added Kiriella.