Nerve Endings Firing Away

How many times have you visited a city also popular with filmmakers only to be shown all the places that made an appearance in a certain movie? Chances are that if the movie was shot only in a particular place and it was a major hit, then it almost becomes mandatory for tour guides to stop by. We were shown four different places where the song, “hum tum ek kamare mein” when we visited Kashmir in spite of our total lack of interest in such stupid trivia. When we stopped by the information center at Ooty to ask for places to visit, we only got film locales. Usually there are busloads of tourists at such locations that are usually known for their scenic beauty. Nothing spoils a good scenic view like hordes of unruly tourists and roadside souvenir stalls. We got some good ol’ fun by telling a newly-arrived busload that a movie was being shot in another part of the spot. They all rushed in the direction we pointed and we could at least spend some time in peace. Any visitor to Bombay will not be shown Gateway of India, Elephanta Caves, or the Marine Drive but instead the first destinations are always homes of film stars in the suburbs.

But I have no complaints if film tourism brings in revenue to the city. In fact, let us pander to such demand by creating decent film-oriented tours like those in Hollywood or the numerous Universal Studios scattered across the U.S. Serious film buffs wouldn’t mind walking through Ramgarh made famous by Sholay or Champaner, Lagaan’s Ramgarh.
Every period movie has enough theme-park potential. Have regularly scheduled dance sequences from Hum Aapke Hai Kaun and the public will go crazy. Let them participate and shake a hip with the hired extras and star look alikes for few rupees more.

Each successful movie has a hidden potential for exploiting the gullible tourist. It doesn’t help being too uptight regards such ventures if it generates enough revenue for the doddering film industry.

Of course, real-life neighborhoods like Hiranandani Gardens can be greatly encumbered because they are after all residential locations as well. An occasional film shoot might not be too troublesome but hordes of tourists that follow might be bothersome.

New York neighborhoods recently faced such a dilemma when Sex and the City tours started making life for Greenwich Village more particularly 66 Perry St. miserable. The show’s immense popularity made 66 Perry St. a must-see destination for the show’s avid fans. Similarly my roomie, Anish wanted to go to Water’s Edge café as shown in Kal Ho Na Ho during our recent trip to NYC. We managed to convince him otherwise by telling him that it is useless unless you have Preity Zinta to accompany you. The tour operators however are winning over the residents of the troubled neighborhoods by offering them cash contributions to help beautify the area (can also be termed as ‘impact fees’ in development lingo). It is a perfect win-win situation for both parties. For permission to run little more organized tours so as not to encumber the residents, the residents get to beautify their streets.