5 Decades of Bollywood love affair with Swiss Alps

Switzerland and Indian Tourists: A Love Affair

As a 90’ kid, I grew up watching many blockbuster movies and admiring the art of picturization by Indian directors. It creates the image of Switzerland as a calm and romantic landscape destination. It cannot be ignored that Bollywood helped to boost Switzerland’s popularity among many Indian tourists.  For many, without visiting Switzerland, their trip didn’t feel complete. Because of the many young couples who were influenced by the 1995 release, Bollywood movie ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, which has remained a favorite among fans since today.

Image 1: My first visit to Switzerland, I took this picture on the Mountain Titlis, my  Europe trip would not have finished without visiting Switzerland.

Kashmir is an Indian state, which has lots of mountains and landscapes like Switzerland. Many movies were shot there but after 1960, the region became unstable because of terrorist activities, which influences directors to look forward to Switzerland.

Image 2: Hundreds of Indian movies have been shot in Switzerland.

Bollywood or the Bombay Cinema produces approx. 2000 movies per year, selling 3.6 billion tickets worldwide with a turnover of  180 billion Indian rupees. India being ruled by Britishers over 200 years has a great taste in exploring the foreign culture. Raj Kapoor, one of the finest filmmakers in the Indian Film Fraternity was the first Bollywood director to shoot spellbound scenes in the Swiss mountains, in a movie named “Sangam” back in the year 1964.

Yash Chopra was the game changer for Bollywoood movies in Switzerland

The love of Indian filmmakers kept elevating for capturing mesmerizing beauty of the Swiss Alps under their production houses like Yash Raj Films.

Image 3: Statue of Yash Chopra on left (The title “Ambassador of Interlaken” awarded by the government of Interlaken in 2011)  the statue was unveiled in 2012

Yash Chopra, one of the biggest filmmakers in Bollywood, was famous for producing big-budget films. He discovered Switzerland in 1970 when he was captivated by the landscape around Interlaken and shot many of the scenes from his films there. The director became so famous that there is even a mountain lake nicknamed as “Yash Chopra Lake”.

Image 4: Movie Chandani, This film made Switzerland a popular destination for Indians to visit as most of the scenes and songs were shot in the country.

From late ’90s to the early ’20s there were several blockbusters that involved outdoor shoots. One of the biggest movies that were ever shot and which boomed the tourism business of Switzerland from India is “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” or commonly known as “DDLJ”.

Image  5 left: The famous bridge scene in the movie was shot in Saanen.  Image 6 right: My visit to Sannen in 2018, surprised to see many Indian tourists.

This is probably the longest-running movie in the history of Indian cinema and has impacted several generations both in terms of their travel destinations and living their life in Switzerland.

With the increased buying power of Indians, Switzerland has become the hotspot honeymoon destination for young Indian Couples. Big magazine houses have several photoshoots to unveil the spellbound beauty of these alps, from filmstars to legendary models that are a part of this business.

The theme and genre of Bollywood movies has evolved with time and trends but Bollywood has deepened its relations with Switzerland. Earlier romantic movies were shot but nowadays even action movies are a part of Bollywood’s most-watched category.

Bollywood has remarkably open doors not only for movies but also for magazines and web series which have impacted both Bollywood as well as Switzerland in a mutual relationship. globalization has its own multifold benefits served towards this relationship. Every year, new angels of swiss beauty are captured by Bollywood artists in their own way of masterstrokes. Many have been explored and may are yet to be.

Watch a clip of Indian Movie Sangam,  shot in Switzerland in 1964.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=31&v=lw-vd1NLCvc&feature=emb_logo

Thank you