Vancouver: The number of Indian productions shot in Vancouver may triple this year over last thanks to some effective location marketing in the subcontinent.

Indian producers from Bombay – the world’s largest film center – were introduced to Vancouver’s movie-making assets through three trade missions to India in calendar 1995.

As a result of those marketing excursions, portions of two Hindi films were shot in Vancouver last summer. With one of those films already in Indian theaters and the b.c. backdrop more widely visible to audiences, Indian producers have stepped up their requests for information and six productions are expected to be shot here in 1996.

Each will leave behind an estimated $100,000 to $150,000, says Amarjeet S. Rattan, a former Vancouver film producer who now works with B.C. Trade & Investment (formerly B.C. Trade Development Corporation) in cultivating business in India and southeast Asia.

Rattan, who coproduced the Indo-Canadian culture-clash story The Burning Season in 1993, says Indian producers are attracted to b.c.’s natural settings. The productions – which tend to be formulaic ‘masala’ films mixing love stories with comedy, drama, action and music – use striking locations for the singing and dancing segments.

And since their traditional locations in Kashmir have become dangerous because of civil strife, explains Rattan, Indian producers have begun to look farther afield in Switzerland, New Zealand and the Netherlands, for example. However, in those locations, the producers would import their own crew and equipment. Vancouver, he says, offers Indian producers a film infrastructure they find surprising.

While one small production has already come through town, the next Indian production shot here will feature Madhuri Dixit – described as the Sharon Stone of India – and Sanjay Kapoor, brother of the most famous male star in India.

The feature is called Mahabbat and is produced by Rakeshnath and Dashaka Films. It is scheduled to begin shooting five singing and dancing segments – a process called ‘picturizing’ songs – at the end of this month.

Dixit will also star in the film Arzzo, which means desire. Produced by Vikas Mohan, it begins a 15-day shoot in July.

Producer Boney Kapur and S.K. Film Enterprises will shoot Judaai, starring the number two box office starlet Sridevi, in August.

One other Hindi film is currently scouting locations and a Bengali film is expected in July.

‘It’s encouraging that we’ve started with two small productions and have moved quickly to movies with large stars,’ says Rattan. The next phase of marketing will showcase more of b.c.’s locations and its special effects and stunt services, which will become more in demand by Indian audiences as they gain more exposure to North American programming through increased television service in India, he says.

Bombay produces 1,400 features per year compared to North America’s 300.

Mark DesRochers, manager of production and location services at the B.C. Film Commission, says the small-budget Indian production will be a tiny contribution to b.c.’s film volumes this summer. But with more Indian titles shooting here, the offshore market is heating up.

He adds, meanwhile, that foreign production and coventures from India and other countries such as Hong Kong, Germany, England and France add depth to the local industry. And with Vancouver’s large Asian and Indian communities, DesRochers says films from Hong Kong and Bombay are natural fits.