French culture minister invites Bollywood to Alps

France’s culture minister, Aurélie Filippetti, told Bollywood filmmakers on Friday to choose France over neighbouring countries when shooting their next mountain scene. Filippetti, who is one of six government members accompanying President François Hollande on his two-day trip to India, cited beneficial changes in tax and visa regulations introduced by the Socialist government. “In the world of Indian cinema, particularly Bollywood, mountain scenes are often filmed in Switzerland or the Czech Republic,” she told reporters at a press conference in New Delhi. “[So] in France we have introduced tax breaks and more flexible visa regulations for foreign artists and technicians in order to better accommodate them. “I hope we can welcome more Indian artists so that the French mountains can become a part of Indian filmmaking,” she added. India is the world’s largest producer of movies and around four billion cinema tickets are sold in the country each year. India is celebrating 100 years of filmmaking this year, and will serve as guest of honour at the Cannes Film Festival in May.