Branson’s Bollywood boost

Bollywood films are boosting the number of people travelling between Britain and India, says Virgin Atlantic. The airline has just launched daily flights from London to Mumbai because business is so good.

Passenger numbers have jumped because many tourists are now travelling to India to see the industry first hand and more Bollywood films are being shot in the UK. More than one million Brits flew to Mumbai last year and it’s expected the figure will grow by six per cent every year until 2015.

Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman Anna Catchpole said: “Mumbai is the centre of the Bollywood industry, and we expect it to become just as popular as any of the big sets in Hollywood. Bollywood film fans love to travel to the exact location in Mumbai where some of their favourite films were shot. It’s the equivalent of going to Hollywood to see the great Warner Brothers or Universal studio sets. Many companies in Mumbai now offer Bollywood studio tours.”

Oxford, Edinburgh, Carlisle, Cardiff and London have all been used as locations for recent Bollywood blockbusters and romantic drama Jab Tak Hai Jaan is out at the end of this month. Shot mainly in Mumbai, the team spent 35 days filming in London at locations including Borough Market, Jubilee Walk, Trafalgar Square, Palace of Westminster and the O2.

Waxworks of many Bollywood stars, including Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan are in London’s Madame Tussauds. And Amitabh Bachchan was surrounded by thousands of adoring fans when he carried the Olympic flame through London on the day before the Games opening ceremony.

VisitBritain has run a huge marketing campaign to lure more Indian film companies to the UK and add tens of millions of pounds to the nation’s economy.

Virgin boss Richard Branson launched the new daily flight to Dubai on October 28 (above) and more than 30,000 tickets have already been booked. Fares from £600 return.

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