Bollywood Tourism

Second only to cricket – or is it the other way around? – is the Indian obsession with Bollywood. The glitz, them glam, the masala movie, the melodrama. and the aspirational lifestyles portrayed on screen took the masses by storm several decades ago and the craze is only getting stronger.

Fuelled by the obsession to ‘reach for the stars’, it seems it’s almost every Indian’s ambition to take a Bollywood tour, even if it means only a peep at the actors’ homes from the outside.

Not surprisingly, the famous Mumbai Darshan tour run by the State Tourism Department and private tour operators in Mumbai have a mini Bollywood tour on their itinerary. This usually includes a drive-by the homes of the big stars, including the Bachchans in Juhu, and Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan in Bandra.

While Bollywood tours in Mumbai seem to satisfy some of this lust for our on-screen legends and newcomers alike, it’s not really enough. It only whets the appetite for more. What fans are really hankering after is a glimpse of their heroes and heroines in action. Oh, for a glimpse of the lovely Kareena Kapoor or action hero Akshay Kumar!

Well, much of the action takes place on the sets of studios, where a large percentage of films are shot. Unfortunately, there are no structured Bollywood tours in Mumbai except for one – Bollywood Tourism – that takes tourists on location.

Undoubtedly, the place to visit is Filmcity in Goregaon (East). Located in the lush green environs of Aarey Colony are more than 500 acres of land on which more than 40 film studios are located. However, Filmcity, which has hosted the sets and studios where mega-budget films such as Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas and prime-time soaps and serials have been shot, is out of bounds to the public. The entire area is owned by the government and rented out to film and TV serial production companies for shooting purposes.

This indeed is Bollywood’s dream factory and a drive-through Aarey Colony is on every Bollywood tour itinerary. Another popular Bollywood tour destination is R K Studios in Chembur, the historic studio owned by the first family of Bollywood – the Kapoors.

Opened by Raj Kapoor back in 1951 and bearing his initials, this is another must-see in any Bollywood tour package. It’s where Raj Kapoor shot some of his famous movies such as Awara and Shri 420, pioneering productions that have a special place in the annals of Indian cinematic history.

Another, more recent destination, is N D Studio in Karjat on the outskirts of Mumbai. Located just off the Mumbai-Pune highway, the studio is about five years old and is home to the sets of the Hrithik, Aishwarya starrer Jodhaa Akbar This is another must-see on any Bollywood tour package in Mumbai.

The property also has chalets where actors can live on location during extended shootings, a large storage facility for props that can be reused, and a workshop where the components of the sets are prefabricated.

Permanent sets at N D Studio include the Jodhaa Akbar set and another one called Bombay Street. The latter was created for a movie called Traffic Signal, whose storyline revolves around the micro-economy that thrives around, well, the Mumbai Traffic Signal.

But how do Indian studios and Filmcity compare to those in Hollywood, world-class facilities such as paramount Studio, Universal Studio and Sony Pictures (which bought the historic MGM studio).

Unlike in Hollywood, studios in Mumbai are not open to the public for a Bollywood tour and the most one can hope to see are the gates. It’s strictly No Entry! But there’s one Bollywood tour package launched as recently as 2010 that has secured permission to take NRI and foreign tourists inside. Finally!

So for the first time, tourists will get an exclusive look at the inside of the Bollywood dream factory – where those notoriously melodramatic dream sequences are shot, where those hip-swinging love songs are enacted, where crocodile tears are shed over imaginary tragedies, and where the gods decide the fate of mere celluloid mortals.

But why would a busload of American, Belgian, English and German tourists opt for a Bollywood tour in Mumbai? Well for one, Bollywood has been the staple of the Indian disapora across continents for a long, long time. So if SRK and Deepika Padukone were shaking a leg together in Om Shanti Om back home, the movie was also making waves in countries where large swathes of the Indian population have settled.

But there’s another phenomenon fast unfolding – the globalisaiton of Indian cinema, making it popular among other ethnic groups as well. Admittedly, it’s recent but films like the Shah Rukh Khan starrer My Name Is Khan, Aamir Khan starrer 3 Idiots and the Hrithik Roshan-Barbara Mori starrer Kites are designed to connect with an international audience.

And if there’s one film that’s probably done more than any other to put Bollywood and Mumbai on the world map it’s Danny Boyle’s multiple Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionnaire.

Moreover, many Hollywood studios have been producing and distributing Bollywood productions in India and abroad for a few years now, investing astronomical sums in desi fare. These include the big American studious such as Fox Searchlight, Sony Pictures and Disney.

With names like these muscling in on a slice of the massive Bollywood pie, there’s no looking back. If Indian tour operators were to tie up with these studios, it could bring in big business for Bollywood tours in Mumbai.

Finally, there’s the tried and tested outsourcing route. India is on the cutting edge of technology in various fiends and some of the film studios in Mumbai have the best to offer in terms of production and post-production facilities.

Some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters have used studios in Mumbai and Bangalore for animation and special effects including one of the largest-grossing movies of all time – Avatar.

Also, studios like N D Studio are offering on-location space to Hollywood producers and studios to shoot here, which means bits and pieces of Hollywood productions could be filmed in and on the outskirts of Mumbai. Using these opportunities as a calling card, the time is ripe for a structured Bollywood tour package that would take foreigners inside Mumbai’s fast globalising dream factory.