Move over Hollywood, Bollywood is putting New Zealand on the big screen, too.
The Indian film industry, the world's biggest, has partly filmed about 38 movies in New Zealand in the past two years, including one blockbuster set here, Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai (Say You Love Me).
Film-makers from Bombay, Madras and
Hyderabad have been impressed by New Zealand's scenery, the competitive cost of shooting and the people and service, says Rakesh Roshan, the director of Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai.
He plans to shoot sequences for three more films in New Zealand.
However, the foreign exchange New Zealand earns from India's film industry seems unlikely to rival that garnered from US movies shot here.
Indian movies are made on much lower budgets than Hollywood and have a narrow market outside India, says Film New Zealand, which markets this country as a location overseas.
Indian films may be shot for as little as $300,000.
A US production such as The Lord Of The Rings trilogy has a budget of $400 million.
Trade NZ figures show that each Indian film shot here in the past two years brought an average of 30 people to the country, including cast and crew, for between 15 and 49 days, spending between $10,000 and $15,000 a day.
"We believe there will be a long-term relationship [with the Indian film industry] in five to 10 years," says Film New Zealand commissioner Jane Gilbert.
Indian film-makers do not use New Zealand crews and facilities to the extent of other producers. But, she says, "we are looking to the point where ... we are part of their creative industry and part of their infrastructure industry."
