Bollywood goes international

BBC reports that many overseas film companies courted the lucrative Bollywood movie industry at a two-day conference in Bombay (Mumbai). Companies from countries such as Australia, Finland, Germany and New Zealand met to discuss ways of drawing productions abroad.

What we did not know that

• Since the first Indian film to be shot in New Zealand – Sanam Harjai – was released in 1995, 90 films have been produced in the country.
• Indian tourist numbers had risen from 400 in 1995 to 25,000 in 2001 – all because of Bollywood
• The first Indian film is now being shot in Germany, a movie about Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, a revolutionary who fought British colonialism in India.