The Kerala government is planning to launch a ‘Cinema Tourism’ project in the state under the aegis of the tourism and cultural departments.
A meeting about this was chaired by Culture Minister Saji Cherian on Thursday in Thiruvananthapuram. Tourism Minister PA Muhammad Riyas was also part of the discussion, along with other officials of the two departments.
In a social media post, Cherian said that the aim is to utilise the potentials of cultural heritage, architecture, folk projects and films to promote tourism in the state.
He added that linking the film and tourism industries to establish cinema tourism will lead to a great leap in domestic tourism. The plan is to develop popular film locations in the state to attract tourists and the general public.
“We know how tourist footfall increased in places like Chapora Fort in Goa and Pangong lake in Ladakh post the shooting of films like Dil Chahta Hai and 3 Idiots, respectively. Likewise, we can also find such possibilities in Kerala. After the release of the film Ordinary, tourism and travel to Gavi increased greatly,” the minister noted.
“However, there is a need for a comprehensive plan. For this, we have asked secretaries of both the departments to submit a report and following that, necessary steps will be taken,” he added.
Minister Riyas also put out a social media post about the proposed project. He wrote, “No matter how many years pass by, there are some movie frames that don’t fade away from our memories. This new project will help people revisit nostalgic cinema memories and locations.”
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He further said that the plan is to attract tourists to places like the bridge in the film Kireedam, where the emotional scene featuring actor Mohanlal was shot, and to Bekal Fort, where the song Uyire from the Mani Ratnam directorial Bombay was filmed. “We hope to rope in film stars for this project. Regarding this, a discussion will be held with prominent people from the film industry,” Minister Riyas added.