Skift Take
Movie and TV-inspired tourism is increasingly becoming a big business, and Georgia is trying to woo through the world's largest movie industry Bollywood.
Big on mountains and romantic vistas, the South Caucasus country of Georgia this year has a starring role in two Indian films; an international prominence that many Georgian film professionals hope could advance the fortunes of their long-struggling industry.
In the Tamil-language gangster flick “Billa 2,” released in July, the capital city, Tbilisi, holds center stage. In “A Second World” (“Irandam Ulagam”), a Telugu and Tamil-language fantasy film by director Selvaraghavan, the regions of Tusheti, Kakheti and Samtse-Javakheti form an alien world where star-crossed lovers find parallel versions of themselves.
But Indian and Georgian directors and producers alike warn that Georgia will need more than captivating scenery and English-speaking crews to attract the cinematic big-time.
Georgia’s interest in attracting India’s film industry, one of the world’s largest, started during the filming of “Five Days of War” (also known as “Five Days of August”), Hollywood director Renny Harlin’s 2011 saga about the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict. The $20-million “Five Days” may have bombed at the box office, but it left a lasting impression in Tbilisi about foreign films
