Article from: , BEN McEACHEN, FILMS EDITOR, September 06, 2006 01:45pm
Actors Priyanka Chopria and Harman Baweja will star in Adelaide’s own Bollywood blockbuster. Picture: CAMPBELL BRODIE. / Reuters
MORE than one billion people will soon see South Australia as it has never been seen before, courtesy of a former Miss World and the Bollywood juggernaut.Premier Mike Rann today officially welcomed to SA the production team behind Love Story 2050, hoping that the $10m movie would ignite an ongoing, lucrative relationship with the world’s largest film industry.
“It’s the biggest Bollywood movie ever shot in Australia and we hope it is the first of many more,” said Premier Rann while director Harry Baweja conducted a busy scene on the stairs outside Adelaide Festival Centre.
India’s first sci-fi film, Love Story 2050 stars Baweja’s son Harman and Priyanka Chopra, a former Miss World who hit the No.2 on this year’s Top Bollywood actress list in India.
“I’m so glad the weather has welcomed us as well,” laughed Ms Chopra.
Specifically set in South Australia and using locations from the Flinders Ranges to the Central Markets, Love Story 2050 would be seen by 1.3billion film fans, estimated Sydney-based producer Anupam Sharma.
Premier Rann said the Government’s building of trade relations with India in the past few years led to the Bollywood coup.
While he would not discuss exact figures, Premier Rann confirmed that “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in funding for Love Story 2050 had come from a partnership between the South Australian Tourism Commission and South Australian Film Corporation.
“It’s the kind of publicity that money can’t buy,” said Mr Rann about bringing Bollywood to SA.
Source: http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,20363611-5006301,00.html
