Kuwait Times

Published Date: October 09, 2008

In a crowded Swiss cafe nestled in the picturesque Alpine town of Interlaken, Indian film star Anushka Shetty tries to catch the attention of fellow actor Gopichand Tottempudi. He ignores her, she throws a tantrum, sending a coffee cup flying in front of a crowd of bystanders.

This is no unguarded moment of celebrity egos out of control, but rather a musical scene from a forthcoming Indian movie blockbuster, made and filmed in Switzerland. The filming of 'Sowryam' or "Courage of a Warrior", drew numerous curious bystanders, and importantly for Switzerland's tourism industry, these included many Indian tourists thrilled to catch a glimpse of their idols.

Since the early 1980s, Indian films have been shot in Switzerland on a regular basis. Film Location Switzerland director Andre Brice told AFP that he did not have an exact count of Indian films made here, but added that at the peak, there were as many as 30 productions here a year.

In the 90s and the early 2000s there were sometimes more than 30 films shot a year. So there are probably more than 200 films that have been made since the beginning. But frankly speaking nobody knows the exact number," Brice said.

The relationship between India and Switzerland began in the 1980s, when Kashmir, a popular location for film-makers, descended into violence. As film-makers searched for other locations with mountains, meadows, lakes-all key settings for essential song-and-dance sequences in Indian movies-Yash Chopra, a leading Bollywood film-maker chanced upon Switzerland.

Chopra hired a Swiss man named Jakob Tritten to find him locations for the shoot, and that heralded Switzerland's entry to Bollywood. "It opened up a new relationship between Switzerland and India," said Brice.

The importance of Indian films has even led the country's film commission Film Location Switzerland to offer a special scouting package including food, transport and board for two, to attract Indian film-makers here. "We need to facilitate more filmmakers to come. One way to do that is to offer such a scouting package in preparations for the film," added Brice.

But some Indian film-makers are already drawn even without such perks. Sowryam's director Siva Jayakumar says he picked Interlaken for the shoot because "I remembered from my last shoot here that you have this nice meadow with snow-capped mountains in the background.

The scenery is beautiful. The people are very nice. I've been to many countries, but this is one of the friendliest. They really help you to work," he added, adding that this was his third film in Switzerland. But even if you take the film crew out of India, you can't take India out of the film crew-as was obvious when the crew stopped for brunch, tucking into plates of steaming rice prepared by their own chef.

A member of the crew explained that they preferred to have food they were used to, so up to 60 kg of ingredients-including masala and ghee-were flown in to help the cook get the taste right. Some Indian tourists took the opportunity to take photos with the stars. "Yes we know them, it's great to see them here," said Girababu Srinivasamurthy, who said he was surprised to see the production here.

The new relationship was not without its teething troubles however. Unlike the Swiss who were sticklers for details and schedules, Indian film-makers and crews tended to improvise. Brice said it was not uncommon for a director to change the day's plans for a mountain shoot to a lake scene if the crew bus happened to pass by a stretch of water that catches the director's eye. As Jean-Pierre Francioli, who was Tritten's company's representative managing the Interlaken shoot, said: "The first time I worked wi
th the Indians, I was thinking 'what the hell is that'.

Many location companies here simply gave up. But Tritten and his team persevered. "You are responsible for making arrangements to make the film happen. So when it's really happening, you feel very good about it," said Francioli, a native Swiss German speaker whose English is now laced with an Indian accent.

Francioli's tasks as he described it is "anything"-hiring helicopters, securing filming permits, finding extras and driving the crew's coach. Meanwhile the Swiss tourism industry has sought to take full advantage of billions of people across India seeing their silver screen idols dance, bicker and fall in love against an Alpine backdrop. "The songs shot in the Swiss mountains and meadows had to do with paradise, fairytales. It made Indian couples dream of having their honeymoon here," said Brice.

According to the Swiss Statistics Office, the number of overnight stays rose 54.8 percent between 2001 and 2006. The growth in numbers had to do with the rising wealth, but it is clear that Bollywood films also played a part, said the Swiss tourism office. Indian tourist Rishi Deb, who was among bystanders watching the Interlaken shoot agreed: "We live and breathe movies in India, certainly the movie industry has a big influence on lifestyles.

Beyond driving the tourism industry, another development Brice is pushing for is more collaborations between Swiss and Indian film industries. One such production was made this year, with a Swiss director and crew, but filming a story in typical Indian fashion-with songs and dances.

The film, called Tandoori Love, was inspired by Bollywood crews filming in Switzerland. It featured an Indian cook who decided to leave his crew for a Swiss girl he met during the shoot. Asked what he thought of future collaborations with the Swiss film industry, Siva said: "I'd love to. Is there a Swiss film industry? I'll have to look into that." -- AFP