Akhil Goswami is a PhD student in the Department of Film and Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara.
Prior to this, he completed his Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Delhi, his Master’s in Film Studies from Ambedkar University, and subsequently his M.Phil. in Cinema Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University. His research interests include global television studies, media infrastructures, cinematic urbanism, sporting cultures, and digital media spectatorships.
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While the reception of cinema is not an easy experience to study, each of the five partners conducted focused group discussions in their own countries. Two focus group discussions were held in each of the five countries involved in the project. Methodologically, this required getting a group of 8 to 10 people together with the research team for a detailed workshop-oriented discussion about their responses to the use of European locations.
In India, the first workshop/discussion was scheduled with young audience members located in Delhi. This was conducted in English, given the audience profile. The second focus group discussion was conducted with participants from Punjab, and the language of the workshop was Hindi. Between these two workshops, different kinds of perceptions emerged related to taste, morality, aspiration, and the desire for virtual tourism. Our findings have been documented in two reports available here. There is also a document that provides information on the way film critics and other journalists write about the use of European sites in Indian cinema. Since reviewers play a major role in mediating between films and their audiences, the evidence gathered from the writings that specifically dealt with the use of Europe is analyzed in a detailed report on the media’s engagement with the subject of foreign locations, which is available here.
The India International Film Tourism Conclave is held in Bombay every year. At the conclave in March 2020 people representing European commissions, private production companies, and service providers from across the world were present. The conclave showcases exhibits and regular pitching sessions are conducted with Indian producers. Each of these exhibits displayed catalogues, lush photographs, videos containing sequences shot in their countries, and tourist videos. The catalogues offer details of rebates and tax exemptions, as well as information about trade agreements. The IIFTC was set up to ease the procedural requirements for Indian filmmaking in European locations. Now various events are held in Europe and India to showcase facilities. These events have also instituted awards for the promotion of tourism. Directors Zoya Akhtar and Imtiaz Ali were felicitated for their roles in promoting tourism through their films.
Certain places in Europe have rebates, and some do not. If the territory is not specific to the film’s script but just needed to present the idea of being overseas, then Eastern Europe is the cheapest destination. With an increase in scale and the use of big stars, there can be an inevitable shift towards Western Europe rather than Georgia or Romania. Tourism Boards and Film Commissions play an important role in these transactions. Cinematic tourism, as it became increasingly clear, was important to boost actual tourism. Therefore, the pleasures associated with global tourism is systematically incorporated into different kinds of films.
Salman Khan’s Kick (2014) was released in many cities in Poland and did well at the box office. Polish officials wanted Bollywood to shoot in Poland, and one of the incentives offered was the presence of skilled and trained film personnel who had also acquired international experience through co-productions with Hollywood. For Poland, the main issue was boosting their tourism by introducing their country to potential tourists from India. The success of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) was something that other countries wanted to replicate. The Polish Tourism Organization started the “I like Poland” campaign in 2012 to tap into international tourism markets. India, with its burgeoning middle classes and disposable incomes, became a major site of investment, and the government of Poland offered financial incentives to Salman’s Kick to begin the process of using film to attract tourists to their country.
Tourism to the Netherlands and Spain increased substantially with Queen and Zindagi. For Fan, Shah Rukh Khan recorded part of his film in Dubrovnik as well as other parts of Croatia. Due to the dramatic nature of the action sequence shot in Dubrovnik, film fans became interested in visiting the city. Local tourist guides have talked about the demand for tours that would replicate Shahrukh Khan’s movement in Fan.
Cinematographers, sound recordists, and scriptwriters have their own approach to the use of European locations. For instance, cinematographers are particularly concerned about scenic views as well as the extended daylight hours that give them a chance to shoot for longer. Similarly, sound recordists are also known to record the sounds of European cities along with local musical forms to create musical tracks where the influence of the location is blended with Indian musical forms. Scriptwriters’ work through situations in which characters get to be placed in European locations.
Some view the basis of any film as the script, for example, for Queen (2013), the script was based in Europe as it is about a young woman in Delhi who travels overseas after being rejected by her fiancé. Paris was written into the script and was part of the original selection. Amsterdam was considered an open city –like any European city. A team, however, first scouted Prague with the local line producers to test the city’s visual vibe. The budgets were then taken from both Prague and Amsterdam – these budgets were compared, and then the decision was taken to go with Amsterdam. Chaitali Parmar, the writer of Queen, explained why a combination of Paris and Amsterdam was essential for the film and why they went with non-iconic locations in Amsterdam while sticking with the iconic Eiffel Tower for the sections shot in Paris.
Roshni Dinaker, director of the Malayalam film, My Story (2018) shot in Portugal, said the decision to shoot in Portugal was based on her story’s needs for a fairy-tale setting. Lisbon gave her a combination of readily available beaches and castles. Satish Chinnan (Mani Rathnam’s producer) in Chennai said Mani Rathnam’s film Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (Crimson Red Sky, 2018) was shot in Georgia and Serbia with the help of Clockwork film productions. Apart from a detailed account of budgeting, shooting and processes involved in foreign location, shooting the film in Georgia helped to get access to the military base and hangar, both of which were off-limits in India. Another interesting detail that he alerted us to was that Georgia now stands in for Kashmir in many Indian films.
Shaad Ali, the director of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007), recalled how the film started off as a very small production set in a railway station in Delhi. The original title was Sangam Mail as the protagonists in the film were supposed to be waiting for the arrival of a train called Sangam Mail, moving between Allahabad and Delhi. This was the first version he wrote. Ali felt he wanted to move away from the small-town setting of his hugely successful Bunty aur Babli (2005). He wanted to take the story to some other place, like London, so getting out of India was the first step. But once the script moved to the U.K., it became possible to include a Pakistani character as well. The space provided the context for a change in the script. Since the story depended on a series of lies cooked up by the two characters, events from the world entered like the Lady Diana story—about her last night at the Ritz hotel. So, while the essence of the story was still something small that could have happened to two people anywhere in the world, the change in scale helped expand the terrain of the script. The Lady Diana story took them to Paris, while the Waterloo train station in London became the site that replaced the original vision of a railway station in Delhi.
In Bengali cinema, foreign locations have been used mainly for one-off song sequences. In Dui Prithibi (2010), a small portion was shot in Italy, and it was probably the first film of significance shot in Europe. One of the major productions shot entirely abroad, in Italy, was Parambrata Chatterjee’s sci-fi thriller Bony (released in 2021). The entire shooting in Italy was managed by Odu Films, which has become a manager for European shoots for Southern films as well. They organize all the major aspects of any shoot: equipment, extras, permissions, boarding and lodging, internal travel, location visits, etc. However, they cater to low- to middle-budget films. It is interesting to note that most Bengali films with a considerable amount of shooting abroad belong to the ‘off-beat’ middlebrow arthouse range of cinema. Significant examples are Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s Anuranan (2006, shot partly in the UK), and Churni Ganguly’s Nirbashito (2014, SVF Films). Popular Bangla cinema mostly shoots songs in Europe, and the preferred locales are Italy, Switzerland, and some parts of the UK. Shri Venkatesh Films (SVF) claims to have shot 20 times in Switzerland.
The selection and use of European locations in Indian cinema involves a range of negotiations. Since the 1990s, the presence of international space increased exponentially in Indian cinema following the tremendous success of Yash Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ, 1995). The use of Switzerland’s picturesque locations played a major role in attracting Indian tourists to the country. This relationship between cinema and tourism has only expanded since the 1990s. Apart from Switzerland, the U.K, Germany, Italy, France, Spain etc. have also been popular sites in Indian cinema.
Simultaneously, Eastern Europe emerged on the horizon as a major location for shooting. Poland, The Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Georgia, Bulgaria, and Croatia have all entered the landscape of big-budget spectaculars. Budapest was the location for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), but it was presented as an unnamed Italian city! Kunal Kohli’s Fanaa (2006) required Kashmir as a location, which they could not get for security reasons. Poland thus became the site for a simulated Kashmir.
Until 1989, Eastern Europe followed a system where film production and film education were administered and financially managed by the state, and for this, an elaborate distribution and exhibition network was established. Film Institutes were set up in several countries to aid in the development of a film culture in support of the socialist cause. These schools have produced several internationally renowned directors, cinematographers, and other talented technicians. State support was also extended through the creation of highly equipped studios for production and post-production work. The fall of the Communist regimes in 1989 led to the entry of private capital and the withdrawal of state support from many areas of production. As a result, the infrastructure of film production experienced a crisis. The trading of locations for shooting was initiated by many EU governments to help deal with the economic crisis faced by local film production outfits. India joined the fray to access locations in Eastern Europe as well as other untapped West European locations for their productions.
The inclusion of several new European destinations in popular narratives has resulted in a substantial expansion of the global networks that drive the production of Indian cinema. There are organizations now dedicated to handling the movement of finance, personnel, labour, and technology. This expansion, depending on the destination, relies on both corporate structures and informal associations. These processes have led to the formation of diplomatic and trading networks, with awards instituted for film personnel who have helped in the promotion of tourism.
Documentation of the financial, material, and creative elements of the production infrastructure involved primary research and for these more than 50 interviews were conducted in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Trivandrum, and Lisbon. Extracts of some of these interviews are available here. Interviews were conducted with several executive producers, directors, scriptwriters, associate producers, creative producers, production designers, sound recordists, line producers, location scouts, and travel coordinators. Interviews were also conducted with those who document “behind the scenes” on video. These interviews provide information on the specific mechanisms involved in the use of European locations.
The shooting in Europe has increased in the last three decades. European countries have started offering rebates and tax incentives, so that even a small filmmaker who feels they cannot shoot abroad is able to make certain calculations. Tax rebates can range from 10–35%. What a producer spends in a particular country—a certain amount of the actual expenditure—is returned to the producers. Various events are held in Europe and India to showcase the facilities available for shooting abroad. Rebates are offered because of tourism as well as employment for local people.
Saif Akhtar (a documentary filmmaker who makes behind-the-scenes videos) noted that the rebates offered by European countries can sometimes cover 40 or 45% of the budget, which would include hotels, airlines, crew, transport, etc. This allows the budget to be slashed. But in return for this kind of rebate, the host country also negotiates a promotional video showcasing their location. In the case of Ek Tha Tiger (2012), they chose Austria because the wolf sequence needed a snow-bound location and there was a well-known wolf trainer in Austria that offered a rebate. They also extracted a promotional video featuring the advantages of shooting in Austria.
Since 2007, Britain introduced a “Culture test” to ascertain how much rebate should be offered. If a filmmaker wants tax concessions in Britain while shooting a film there, they must clear a test of ‘Britishness’. This also requires that at least 25 percent of the film’s budget be spent in Britain. However, British co-productions with foreign film companies are exempt from this. The ‘Britishness’ test is based on a list of criteria that need to be adhered to. These include the use of British actors and crew for the shooting as well as the incorporation of English dialogue in the film. While Britain pays serous attention to this, other countries may ask for a minimum expenditure to make them eligible for tax benefits and rebates. A percentage of the expenses incurred in European locations is returned if a film production clears the “cultural test”. Example: If 3 out of the 4 characters are UK citizens and the story is about a citizen from the UK, points are granted. Similarly, if technicians and personnel are from the UK, the film could get some points. For a producer from the UK, for instance, the production can qualify as a UK film if at least 20 points are acquired in the Cultural test. The use of characters from the UK who speak (dialogues) for a certain length of the film can get the film points for the culture test.
The criteria for the selection of European locations can be divided into two broad categories: what one needs for a script and what is on offer in terms of rebates and subsidies. Then these two categories start to merge. If Poland and Serbia have better subsidies, then they can be used to stand in for London. A film like War (2019) is so big that it does not matter where it is shot; it can go anywhere in the world. For Fan (2016), London had to be a location because the story demanded that. Many scenes were shot in Dubrovnik, Croatia, to highlight an architectural texture that would be different from the London sequences. Dubrovnik, especially the Old Town, was thus written into the script for an outdoor action sequence. It was also cheaper to shoot the action sequences in Croatia because of the support extended by local authorities.
Location scouts, Line producers, and Executive producers are key figures in the execution of the entire process involved in the selection and management of locations. They negotiate diplomatic, financial, and trade arrangements to get the best possible incentives and support from the European side. The Line producer plays a crucial role in pushing for locations via images and catalogues, and they negotiate packages with the Executive producer. Film Bodies are very important since they help connect production houses to local handlers or line producers. Most countries also have an Indian who becomes a Line producer. The Executive producers and Line producers handle all the paperwork and bureaucratic procedures. For shooting abroad, either a new company is formed or a collaboration is initiated with a local Line producer, who sets up all these accounts, etc. A proper legal team is hired to draw up the contracts. All financial transactions are cashless, and every crew member has an independent contract. All monetary transactions are white, so there is an incredible amount of paperwork. In the initial stage, no money is exchanged, only the script. Line producers are selected based on recommendations, and then budgets are shared. Following this, locations are scouted with the line producers, and the contract is signed between the line producer in Europe and the Executive producer from India. Line producers represent the country and are the ones handling the film, dealing with local municipal concerns, and procuring visas for the actors and the crew.
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