The streets of Mayfair are throbbing with music. The air is thick with it. A hovering helicopter and million pound houses make up the backdrop for Govinda’s song. Salman Khan and Priyanka Chopra dance in picturesque Oxford while Akshaye Khanna cavorts near Windsor Castle. And Tabu tests Amitabh Bachchan’s sprinting skills in Hyde Park.

Most of the big names in Bollywood today have one thing in common – they have all travelled to Britain to shoot a movie. And ever keen British regional chiefs are trying hard to cash in on the lucrative movie location business, actively courting the Indian film industry. The fact is that 14 of last year’s 70 films released in the UK were shot here, resulting in the spending of more than 20 million pounds. Two million pounds was the gross taking for Karan Johar’s Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna, the same as acclaimed British hit, Vera Drake. India produces over 1,000 films annually and over half those big Indian productions are shot overseas and a lot of them in Britain, given no language barriers and a historical emotional cord which still binds the two countries together.

Acknowledging this trend, Amitabh Bachchan recently said at the London premiere of his film, Cheeni Kum, “London is the current flavour. It was Switzerland five years ago when everyone went there for shootings and promotions. In a few years it will be Australia or somewhere else. But, Indian cinema has its own strengths. More people watch Indian films than Hollywood ones – 3.8 billion to just 3.2 billion. The reason Hollywood gets noticed more is because of the language factor. English is the most important language in the world.
“But for us to be sitting in London for a screening in Leicester Square was unheard of 10 to 15 years ago. It shows our strengths. When a country does well economically, everything about it becomes noticeable and attractive – its food, colours and films. Indian films are very strategically poised to enter the world market. It can be a wonderful alternative to Hollywood. It is good to have a variety as everything reaches saturation point. If Hindi films like Cheeni Kum can provide that variety, all the better.”

The tourism industry is buzzing too as Bollywood’s storylines increasingly feature a non-resident Indian and are shot in locations such as Piccadilly Circus or Wimbledon or the Blue Water shopping mall in Kent, which then draw increasing numbers of sightseers from India. With more than 200,000 Indian tourists spending more than 140 million pounds a year in Britain, it’s no wonder that the authorities are busy printing location visitor guides and ‘branding’ Britain with placement of products such as Scotch whisky and Pringle sweaters in Bollywood films. Especially since the time that Kashmir has been out of bounds, the rolling glens and scenic lochs of Scotland have become the popular backdrop of more than 20 films over the past decade.

And, over the water, Ireland too has seen a dozen Bollywood films being shot on home turf. On the economic front, the Yorkshire Tourist Board hosted the equivalent of the Oscars – International Indian Film Academy Awards, recently, ahead of major cities like New York. Yorkshire has it all with romantic moors, pretty villages and a sweeping coastline and, to cap it all, the greatest concentration of stately homes, castles, abbeys and gardens, outside London. On a more practical level, infrastructure and skills based in Yorkshire also support filmmaking. There is a growing core of wannabe young actors, dancers and well-connected technical personnel readily available through the agency, Screen Yorkshire, which is dedicated to the encouragement and development of films.

Vipul Shah’s Namastey London, was shot in the capital with British actors such as Nina Wadia and Tiffany McFadden. Wanting to experiment with how British crews work, he hired a British location manager, cinematographer, casting director, production designer, art department as well as make-up and wardrobe staff for his film, locally. An astonishing 26 locations were used in filming Namastey London, from high-rise offices in Canary Wharf to beautiful old buildings such as Ditchley Park and the Greenwich Naval College.

Other films shot here include Baabul, which has stunning scenes of the Embankment with Amitabh Bachchan and John Abraham taking a stroll, I See You which has a romantic song with Arjun Rampal near St Paul’s Cathedral and Borough Market and Salaam-E-Ishq which showed Anil Kapoor negotiating the London rush hour traffic on Hungerford Bridge. Bachchan Senior’s film, Cheeni Kum, has also been dominantly shot in various parts of London such as Piccadilly Circus, Beauchamp Place in Knightsbridge, Carlos Place in Mayfair and Chelsea. The producer of the film, Sunil Manchanda said, “Shooting in London was a good experience and well organised.” Another much hyped film Bachchan Junior’s Jhoom Barabar Jhoom has been shot at the Chelsea Football Club. Presently, Goal, with Bipasha Basu and John Abraham is being shot in Wembley causing much chaos as over-enthusiastic British Asian fans try to gatecrash the sets attempting to catch a peek of their favourite stars.

It all started with Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se, the first Bollywood film to enter the UK Top Ten chart in 2005. Nine Indian films made it to the UK Top Ten chart compared to seven British films that year. Since these movies have merged into circuits such as Cineworld Cinemas, they have become a major part of the film industry here. There are now over 60 cinema theatres playing the year’s biggest Indian hit at any one time. If strong titles continue to be released in the coming years, the market will grow and thrive. And as that happens, the filmmakers will keep on arriving at Heathrow and with them the strong chance that you could easily bump into Abhishek Bachchan or Aamir Khan in Leicester Square.