BOLLYWOOD BENIDORM

Altea's popular artist display was officially opened on Monday

BENIDORM is a familiar filming location with British producers, but this week saw the arrival of a 50-strong crew from India – here to shoot part of a Bollywood movie called ‘Mister’.

Srinu Vytla, the award-winning film director, spent three days in Benidorm, mainly around the old town. Last week they were in Toledo and on Thursday headed down to La Manga, then the final destination in Spain, Sevilla, before heading back to India.

The film, starring handsome actor Varun Tej, who hails from an acting family in Tollywood, and Hebah Patel, an Indian actress and model, will be on release in the new year.

Varun is a hugely popular and successful actor who has over 200,000 Twitter followers.

FilmOffice in Benidorm is actively encouraging what it sees as a potentially new market. Bollywood is a multi-billion-pound industry producing in the region of 1,000 films every year – double the number of Hollywood.

The market is huge and exposure of Benidorm as a set will potentially encourage many Indian holidaymakers to the resort, especially from the UK.

Much like fans of the ITV comedy series Benidorm, who flock here, it could generate a whole new market.

FilmOffice say that on average the resort benefits economically by around €2.5 million when Tiger Aspects are here by way of hotels, van hire, etc and in the three days that the Indian crew were here, the resort benefitted by around €30,000…

All good news for local businesses here.