TRACKING INDIAN BOLLYWOOD
Lragir/am
20 March 06
A group of 17 Indian businessmen headed by the Honorary Consul of
Armenia to the Indian city of Mumbai (former Bombay) has arrived in
Armenia to set up business relations with their Armenian colleagues
and to study the business environment in Armenia. The guests have
already visited the Armenian Development Agency, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and met with local businessmen. On March 20 the
members of the delegation met with reporters.
Among the members of the delegation are representatives of the
leading branches of industry in India: diamonds, IT, pharmaceutics,
tourism, metallurgy, etc. Presently, imports from India total 11
million dollars, exports in the opposite direction total 400 thousand
dollars. According to the deputy foreign minister of Armenia Armen
Baiburdyan, trade between the two countries grows annually by 70 per
cent and still there is potential. Besides trade the Armenians and
Indians cooperate in education, science and culture. The cooperation
in culture promises to develop cooperation in other spheres. Three
representatives of the Indian Bollywood – Mukesh Bhatt, Sabir Boxala,
Ashok Mehta – arrived in Yerevan with the delegation.
Mukesh Bhatt opened his speech with the popular phrase in India
“tourism follows wherever Bollywood goes.”
Bollywood annually produces 1000 films. Mukesh Bhatt annually produces
5 films. He has produced 45 films, 27 were made abroad, in Switzerland,
Singapore, etc. Life revealed that after such films Indian tourists
tend to visit to the country. The Armenian ambassador to India
Ashot Kocharyan, deputy minister of foreign affairs Armen Bayburdyan
and the Indian ambassador to Armenia Rina Pandei and the producer
expressed hope that soon a romantic Indian film will be produced in
Armenia with all its subsequent consequences. Mukesh Bhatt hopes that
a romantic relationship will begin between Armenia and Bollywood and
will last long. He said he had been told that there is good scenery
in Armenia for shooting. Mukesh Bhatt said there is also warmth and
hospitality. The Indian reporter Gustasp Irani said unlike Singapore
and China, the Armenians have preserved their identity and are an
island of Christian culture surrounded with Arab culture.