Odd as it may sound, Hindi films have been a catalyst in fuelling middle-class India's overseas aspirations. One of the earliest movies that set up foreign locales as a major attraction was Raj Kapoor's Sangam. It was his first film in colour and had an extended honeymoon sequence shot in Europe - Venice, Paris and yes, Switzerland. Sangam successfully paved the way for the trend of foreign locations in Hindi films.

The emergence of the foreign location in Hindi movies is significant with regard to the consumerist quality of '60s films. Most of us familiar with the Shammi Kapoor or Rajendra Kumar starrers of those years will remember the plush homes, fancy telephone sets, cigars, carpeted hotels and cabaret dancers flaunted in them. It was a period when the Mumbai film industry switched to technicolour and foreign locations in a movie like Sangam made Hindi cinema more hip and à la mode.
Overseas locations in Sangam were also the backdrop for sexual openness and license epitomised by the teasing number 'Mein Kya Karoon Ram', where a brazen Vyjayanthimala seduces her scandalised husband in their hotel suite. More recently, Ram Gopal Varma's Company saw a similar situation when Antara Mali kisses her screen husband Vivek Oberoi in a Singapore cafe and tells him to relax since such stuff is ok in phoren. In Hindi films, a non-Indian location has typically been a proxy for western sexual codes and provided an avenue for voyeurism. A departure from established sexual codes in Hindi movies where pristine heroines coyly waited for their men to make the first move, a foreign location brought with it the excitement of forbidden romance, besides the thrill of travel.

Foreign locations in Hindi films became more common in the '70s and '80s, and, of course, in the '90s, and were notorious for materialising out of nowhere in song sequences. So much so that it became routine to suddenly find a couple of modest means inexplicably transported to the Swiss Alps for some song and dance. A memorable one was the dream sequence in Yash Chopra's Chandni, shot in Switzerland. Another was Chopra's Lamhe, the unconventional love saga that saw Sridevi metamorphose from village belle and snake-woman roles into her chic '90s avatar. Indeed, Switzerland has been such a staple locale for Chopra's love stories that the Swiss Government honoured him for his service to Swiss tourism. The eponymous Chopra Lake in Switzerland is a tribute to the director of chiffon romances.
Foreign locations were a key to Hindi films becoming more upmarket and part of India's emerging consumer culture in the 1990s. Yet till the trend of diaspora films emerged in the mid-1990s, the foreign location remained more of an exotic addendum that gave weight to the common complaint about the fragmentary and disconnected character of Indian movies, not to mention their over-the-top budgets. A classic case was the fantasy song sequence in Aishwarya Rai's Hindi debut Jeans, that had the Great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower and Empire State building as backdrops. The song served the sole function of offering the viewer the vicarious thrill of travel in exotic lands, foregrounded by Rai's breathtaking beauty.

The box-office success of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, the longest-running film in Indian cinema’s history spawned the new genre of diaspora films which became box-office busters at home and overseas. Suddenly the overseas market had opened up and Hindi cinema was a growing presence abroad. Directors Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar carved their niche through this chic brand of cinema that drew upon the experience of non-resident Indians. Even Mohabattein, which was set in an Indian private school, the symbolic Gurukul, was actually filmed in Oxford and Longleat. The linkages were quite complex, with foreign locations showcased on the one hand, and the gurukul tradition invoked on the other. With the overseas success of films like Mohabattein and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, mainstream Hindi cinema, for years a marginalised sub-culture, forced its way into the western exhibition circuit.
The frequency of shootings abroad has set up a host of connections with foreign governments and tourism departments, which have contributed to the making of brand Bollywood. In Australia, for instance, the flavour of masala Hindi movies is as strong as the ubiquitous Indian curry. Mainstream Hindi cinema is now big in Australia not simply because of the very large Indian population there but also because the down under is now a major shooting destination for Bollywood. The interaction has the potential to open up India-Australia tourism in a big way.

In fact, Bollywood is fast catching on in Australia, with theme parties and the like devoted to it. Australian university, La Trobe, located in Melbourne, permitted Salaam Namaste to be shot on its Bundoora campus – Arshad Warsi graduates from its law school in the movie. What’s more, a Bollywood exhibition was on at the Melbourne Immigration Museum between June 2006 and January 2007. It was put together with shooting stills, documentary footage and photographs by photojournalist Jonathan Torgovnik. Also part of it were nine five-minute documentaries titled How to Make it Big in Bollywood, showcasing the star, music director, lyricist, director and other important players in a Hindi movie. Interestingly, the event attracted a very mixed crowd, unlike the film shows which are overwhelmed by Indians. The five-minute docus at the exhibition worked like a manual, informing and instructing about the defining features of Hindi cinema. The exhibition is co-funded by the local federation of Victoria, a measure of the cultural capital of Bollywood.
With the overseas virtually indispensable to the Hindi cinema of today, a Salaam Namaste or Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna have become significant for their relatively bold themes of live-in relationships or extra-marital love, that are still more acceptable in non-Indian settings. The nexus has also worked to revolutionise the technical finesse of Hindi films. Krishh and Dhoom 2 were striking for their international feel and look. In fact, the foreign connection has been instrumental in transforming Bollywood, which once pandered to the lowest common denominator, into a refined, modern entity that enhances India’s emerging importance in the global economy. The connection has taken mainstream Indian cinema, and India, places. Literally.