Bollywood News

With scenic Goa buzzing with the movers and shakers of Indian cinema right now, what better place to woo the film industry!

Be it a state like Kerala or a country like Mauritius, representatives are here in full force looking for business on the sidelines of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

Mauritius, an island surrounded by coral reefs in the Indian Ocean, is offering "special packages" for film producers, airfare deals linking India and South Africa, tempting rates to carry film equipment and special handling of film crews.

The Mauritius Film Development Corporation put up a presence at the 'Film Bazaar' held during IFFI. After all, the Indian film industry is the world's largest, producing around 1,000 films a year.

Goa, which is playing host to the IFFI for the first time, itself has been quick to seize the opportunity. While it has been the backdrop for many films, the state hardly has a filmmaking culture of its own.

Films showing its lush green locales have been instrumental in pulling globetrotters to Goa, which gets an average of two million tourists a year - about one-sixth of them foreigners.

Tourists are often taken for a tour of spots where a number of Hindi films were shot.

Also out to showcase its facilities for films, particularly in the animation sector, is Kerala.

Kinfra Film and Video Park in Thiruvananthapuram says it offers "quality film production and post-production services". It claims to be India's first infotainment industrial park with an animation zone.

The park also offers a "one-stop shop" in its animation zone, which promoters say is "set up with an eye on the huge potential of the growing animation industry".