Chandigarh: After medical and wedding tourism, the UT Administration has now come up with the idea of starting cinematic tourism. Keeping that in view many Bollywood movies were shot in the city and its surrounding areas in the recent past.
To begin with, a film festival is being held in the first week of February. During the four-day festival, the Tourism Department has also arranged for interaction with some Bollywood personalities. Those who have agreed to attend the film festival include Yash Chopra, Shyam Benegal, Hema Malini, Anupam Kher, M S Sathyu, Nafisa Ali, Madhur Bhandarkar, etc. The organisers are also expecting the participation of Sohail Khan’s unit including Jackie Shroff and Diya Mirza.
The tentative venues where the movies will be shown during the film festival include, Fun Republic, Kiran Cinema, auditorium of Government Art Museum, and Bhargava Auditorium at PGI. The organisers will take final a decision on the venues on Tuesday. Earlier, it was planned to screen some of the movies at the upcoming multiplex at DLF mall, but the authorities have not included it in the list.
The inaugural function of the film festival will be held at Bhargava Auditorium of PGI, where Hema Malini along with her dance troupe will perform on February 1.
Bollywood movies, such as, Chak De, Tare Zameen Par, The Blue Umbrella, Bose — The last Hero, Junoon, Zubeida, Corporate, Jab We Met, Traffic Signal, Page 3, Mummyji; movies from Italy, Hungary, Iran, Austria and Holland will also be shown during the festival.
For children, movies, such as, Gilli Gilli Atta, Heda-Hoda, Chhutkan Ki Mahabharat, Chakkar Bakkar Bambey Bo will be screened at Kiran Cinema.
Movies, such as, Jab We Met, Mummyji and Apne, which were shot in Chandigarh and its surrounding areas, are being specially screened during the festival.
“We want to present Chandigarh as a destination for shooting Bollywood movies. Proximity of Chandigarh to the tourist destinations in Himachal Pradesh is another added advantage for us,” said a senior official of UT Administration.
Source: ENS