THE BOLLYWOOD CONNECTION
For the global audience, India is synonymous with the term Bollywood. The informal name for the Hindi film industry, Bollywood has the tag of producing the largest number of films in a year. With a skyline boosting of tall skyscrapers, golden deserts, and a developed city, UAE has been a go-to destination for filmmakers in India to shoot their films extensively. Shorter flight times, rebates on production costs, and exotic locations make the Emirates a perfect location for filming. Happy New Year, Dabanng, Welcome
Back, Bang Bang, Dishoom, Baby, and Airlift, are the names of some of the big-ticket movies shot in the UAE in the recent times.
Bollywood stars have UAE in their travel list and keep flying for promoting their films and are part of local campaigns too. Around the city, Bollywood stars can be seen occupying the hoardings endorsing jewellery brands, fashion apparels, real-estate projects, and more. Shah Rukh Khan has gone on record many times calling Dubai his second home. He was part of the big ticket #BeMyGuest campaign, personally inviting tourists to visit Dubai. It is known that he, along with his wife Gauri Khan, owns a villa in Palm Jumeirah. Power couple Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan also own a villa in Dubai and keep hopping to the city often. Apart from shooting their films in the locales of UAE, Bollywood filmmakers have also premiered their films here. RA.One, Jai Ho, Gunday, Happy New Year, Welcome Back, and Befikre were some of the films that were exclusively premiered in the UAE.