Buoyed by the four Oscars bagged by Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi', large chunk of which was shot in locales here, the Puducherry Government is planning to cash in on the popularity of the India set drama to woo tourists.
To start with, Lee and other members of his team are to be felicitated by the union territory government. The date of felicitation would be decided in consultation with Lee and others and according to their convenience, Puducherry Tourism Minister P Rajavelu told reporters here today.
Expressing his joy and jubilation over the movie bagging the Oscars for best direction, best cinematography, best order and best visual effects at the 85th Academy Awards Sunday, he said the film had brought to focus Puducherry abroad.
The movie, the story of a shipwrecked Indian boy, had met with good response in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and a few other countries, he said. "We hope that we would be able to attract a large number of foreign tourists and we would also develop the locations where the movie was filmed here into excellent tourist spots with the assistance from the Union Tourism Ministry," he said.
The locations where the film was shot include more than a century old botanical garden, the 12th century temple of Tirukameeswar at Villianoor near here and the 136-year-old Calve College Higher Secondary School. Rajavelu felicitated the boy Ganesh Kesav, a student in a private school here who was a stand-in in the movie for the main character and said the Tamil version of the film was also screened in Puducherry.
Tourism Secretary W V R Moorthy, who was also present, said a 'Life of Pi' campaign would be held on a sustained basis in Puducherry and a hop-in tourist vehicle would also be pressed into service in Puducherry through Tourism Department. Rajavelu said the government was in the process of establishing a Film City on an extent of 100 acres at Moorthykuppam near here.
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