From left: Attorney-General and Minister for Tourism Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Lisa Haydon, Veer Dass, Neha Dhupia and Boman Irani during the official launch of the Santa Banta movie at Port Denarau yesterday. Photo: WAISEA NASOKIA
By JYOTI PRATIBHA
Some of Bollywood’s top names - Boman Irani, Neha Dhupia and Lisa Haydon - are in the country shooting the comedy film Santa Banta.
The launch of the shoot was done by the Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum at Port Denarau yesterday.
Director and producer of the movie Akashdeep Sabri had visited Fiji some months back for a reconnaissance of the country and scout for locations suitable for the movie.
“I think Fiji is a beautiful place, unexplored. Fiji has just started to be seen in Hindi films. This has been a great journey with lovely people,” Mr Sabri said.
Mr Sabri is also in talks with Film Fiji for other movies to be shot here in the coming months.
Vijay Maharaj, the Fijian agent for the team, said financial incentives and location provided some major pluses for Fiji.
Boman Irani
Mr Irani plays one of the lead roles in the movie, that of Santa.
“I know that this is something that has been said many a times, when people visit a foreign country and are taken care of, but, a country is as beautiful as its people and this is more true in this place. What a beautiful country to live in.
“You are blessed and we are blessed for such warm welcome,” Mr Irani said.
Exciting times for Fiji:
In welcoming the stars, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said this had been a very exciting time for Fiji.
“The past year has been a very exciting time for us. When we saw our venture into the movie industry, in particular Bollywood, we saw it as means of promoting our country as a tourism destination.
“When we started seriously marketing Fiji, in particular India, we were told that in order to market Fiji, we needed somebody from either cricket or Bollywood. We do on that note, we offer very good incentives for producers.
“The rules are quite clear and transparent. I think this is a wonderful opportunity and we see this as a partnership, as a collaboration between the Fijian Government, Film Fiji and producers in India,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.
Acting chief executive of Film Fiji, Florence Swamy, said more films to be shot in Fiji, are in the pipeline.
“The fact that bigger stars are now coming to Fiji shows that the location is working and people want to come. It’s quite an exciting time as well. We will see some production and quite likely more production with bigger stars,” Mrs Swamy said.
The movie is about two men- Santa and Banta – who are born and bred in Ludhiana, Punjab. They arrive to Fiji for a mission.
Award winning actor Boman Irani, Neha Dhupia and model turned actress Lisa Haydon are just three of a strong 80-member cast, coming in from India.
“Some have already arrived and others would be arriving shortly,” Mr Maharaj said.
The distribution rights of this movie have already been acquired.