Ambassador suggests shooting Bollywood movie in Belarus to attract Indian tourists

In order to encourage more Indian tourists to visit Belarus it is necessary to shoot a Bollywood movie here, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of India to the Republic of Belarus Alok Ranjan Jha said answering journalists' questions, BelTA has learned.

The ambassador emphasized that Belarus and India have everything in place to ramp up mutual tourist traffic. Naturally, the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a serious blow to the travel industry, but even in pre-COVID times, the number of Indian tourists traveling to Belarus was very little - about 10,000 people a year. At the same time, the only place that interests the majority of Belarusian travelers in India is Goa. “This needs to be changed,” Alok Ranjan Jha is convinced.

One of the ways to encourage Indian tourists to discover Belarus is to shoot a Bollywood movie here, the ambassador believes. According to him, when Indians watch a popular movie, the shooting location immediately hops on their traveling radars. “I will try to convince Indian producers to shoot a movie here. Now it is a little difficult, but as soon as the situation improves, I will try to get them to come here, study the locations and shoot a movie,” the diplomat said.

Speaking in general about the development of interpersonal contacts and cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, the ambassador pointed to a great interest of Belarusians in Indian culture, music and traditions. “As an ambassador, I feel great pride seeing how curious Belarusians are about Indian music, films, yoga, Ayurveda,” he said. To respond to such an interest, the embassy organized free Hindi language and dance classes and invites everyone to attend.

In addition, cooperation in education is also gaining momentum. There are about 1,000 Indian students in Belarus, most of them are medical students, but there is also some interest in studying other majors. The ambassador also mentioned short-term educational programs in India run by the Indian government. He encouraged Belarusians to consider applying for such programs. To learn more about these programs Belarusians can contact the Indian embassy.

Written by: belta.by