Indiantelevision.com Team

(26 June 2007 7:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Hong Kong Tourism Board is all set to promote tourism through Bollywood movies. The Board has joined hands with Vishesh Films to showcase the locales and attractions of Asia's World City.

As part of Hong Kong Tourism Board's Bollywood initiative, Awarapan scheduled for worldwide release on 29 June has been shot extensively in HongKong.

"Hong Kong is certainly one of the most photogenic cities with its diversity of scenes. It has already been the backdrop for a number of major international and Bollywood movies. Now, we look forward to showcasing Hong with audiences worldwide through Awarapan," remarked HKTB south and south east Asia regional director David Leung.

Movie has sequences of the ageless Chinese New Year celebrations as well as the new visual wonder of award-winning multi-media display of A Symphony of Lights across the famous Victoria Harbour, states an official press release.

Commenting on this co-op project with the HKTB, Mukesh Bhatt of Vishesh Films, the producers of Awarapan, said, "Our love affair with Hong Kong dates back to seventies, when we shot Lahoo Ke Do Rang with Vinod Khanna. We kept revisiting the city with Naam in eighties and Gumrah featuring Sanjay Dutt and Sridevi in nineties. Now with the worldwide release of Awarapan, we will bring Hong Kong closer to the Hindi film audience."

HKTB has also developed several marketing initiatives to raise awareness of Hong Kong as a travel destination and as a versatile location for filming.

Apart from Awarapan, other recent productions are the 2-part Roll…Action! Discover Hong Kong produced by Bollywood director, Imtiaz Ali and 11-part exposure on Kavyanjali, a popular TV drama series of Balaji Telefilms on Star Plus.

Special holiday packages are created in collaboration with Cathay Pacific Airways, Star Cruises and SOTC Do-It-Yourself Holidays to entice the movie-buffs with contests and encourage them to head for the annual shopping extravaganza.