Business to movies: Serbia emerges as a gateway to Central & Southern Europe

NEW DELHI: When foreign minister S Jaishankar recently visited Belgrade on a standalone trip, it surprised many in India’s national capital who were unaware of the fact that Serbia has quietly emerged as a gateway to central and southern Europe for everything from business to movies.Serbia has been fascinating Indian filmmakers and producers in recent years with 10 Indian films being shot in Serbia over the past four years. The list of blockbusters include ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ –– the Bollywood blockbuster on the 2016 surgical strikes by the Indian Army across the border –– and ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’ (2017).The list also includes Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan starrer ‘Thugs of Hindostan’ (2018), ‘Soorma’ (2018), ‘Kotigobba 3’ (2018), Rajnikanth starrer ‘2.0’ (2018), ‘Kaatru Veliyidai’ /Into the Wind (2017) — also directed by Maniratnam and Vivegam (2017).The crucial game changer for Serbia’s soft power has been the introduction of a 25% cash rebate for films. The minimum expenditure to qualify for cash rebate for feature films is $350,000 (approximately Rs 2.3 crore).Film incentives support feature and documentary films, TV series and postproduction. Serbia is also one among a handful of countries to give access to cash rebate to TV commercials which has so far been applied to 60 projects.The visa-free entry for Indians into Serbia has further spiced up its attraction. Maniratnam shot Tamil movie ‘Chekka Chivantha Vaanam’ in the pristine locales of Serbia.With decades of international filmmaking tradition, Serbian locations and talented crew have started winning the hearts of Indian filmmakers and audiences who have enjoyed the breath-taking action scenes in films like ‘Oopiri’ and ‘Vivegam’ shot on the streets of Serbian capital Belgrade. In ‘Soorma’, all European scenes were actually shot in Serbia, including some on stadium matches.“We were honoured to host an Indian external affairs minister after 30 years or so, which is immensely important for us. This is also true of Serbia as a new travel destination with more than 10,000 Indian travellers expected to visit Serbia in 2019. It is true that Serbia is becoming an increasingly important destination for the Indian film industry. The biggest Bollywood movie of this year so far –– ‘Uri: the Surgical Strike’ –– was shot in Serbia.‘Baaghi 3’ is being filmed there as we speak. There are several reasons for this,” Vladimir Maric, Serbian Ambassador to India, told ET.“We are proud of every new film that we serviced in Serbia and ‘Uri’ has been the biggest accomplishment so far,” said Djurdja Vitorovic, production manager of ‘Uri’.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2qQZwUo