South America might be far from India, but that doesn’t stop Indian filmmakers (and even tourists) today from exploring virgin destinations in that continent. Although Argentina may not have featured prominently in Bollywood movies yet, its just a matter of time before that scenario changes.
Compared to North america, locations in South America are cheaper and not yet fully exploited by filmmakers. Another good thing for filmmakers is that the locals look like Indians, which means they can easily pass of Indians (just in case).
Bollywood Movies Shot In Argentina
Shah Rukh is the only superstar who has done several TV shows (when compared to the other stars). In fact he started his career in the industry with television serials. One of his TV shows “Zor Ka Jhakta” was filmed in Buenos Aires.
Indians love the beautiful game of football. Maradona and Messi are huge stars here, and during the Wrold cup, you can expect thousands of Indians to support Argentina. Here’s a hindi commercial that highlights that fact.
Smash hit movie ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’ (starring Ranbir Kapoor & Deepika Padukone) was earlier supposed to be shot in Argentina, but because Ranbir had to promote his other film ‘Barfi’, the location was changed to Paris to make it convenient for Ranbir to promote ‘Barfi’ in European cities.
Indian animation major Toonz Animation India Pvt Ltd had collaborated with Buenos Aires Illusion Studios to produce 3D cartoon film “Gaturro”, based on the popular Argentine comic book (by the same name). The film was a huge success in Argentina.
Though the movie ‘Dhobi Ghat’ was directed by Kiran Rao, its was produced by Aamir Khan; and when this Khan is involved you can expect few things to be different.
For this movie, Argentine musician ‘Gustavo Santaolalla’ was roped in to provide the music. Though Gustavo is an Argentinian, he has worked a lot in Hollywood and even won a couple of Oscars for his music in the films ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and ‘Babel’.
Strong Cultural Ties Between India & Argentina
Latin Americans already know a lot about Bollywood and are fascinated by the Indian culture. Most women like wearing Bindis, love dancing to Bollywood songs, and love King Khan.
Several Argentinian models are already in Mumbai to tap the opportunities offered by Bollywood to foreigners. And because they can pass-off as Indian models, getting work in the industry should not be a problem for them.
Came to my country! Cam to Argentina!