Actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth shooting in the Darjeeling hills for almost 10 days now, and has said the world will see the region’s beautiful and unexplored places through his upcoming film.
Rajinikanth has a month-long shooting schedule in the Darjeeling hills.
West Bengal Tourism Minister Gautam Deb met the superstar on Thursday. During the meeting at a resort in Kurseong, Rajnikanth said the hills had many beautiful places that remained unexplored.
“I hope that through my movie, the entire country will come to know what this place is,” he told reporters, adding that he was very happy to be here and meet “lovely and kind-hearted people and explore beautiful places.”
After meeting the superstar, Deb said he discussed with him promotion of the Bengal tourism industry through filmmakers or the film community.
“Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is committed to the all-round development of the state and the Hills. As per this policy of our government, I met Rajnikanth to promote the Hills through films,” he said.
According to Deb, he urged the actor to shoot more of his films in the hills of Darjeeling.
“I reminded Rajnikanth that many big banner Hindi movies like Aaradhana and Barfi have been shot here before,” he said, adding that he hoped the Rajnikanth-starrer being shot here would promote Darjeeling tourism in a big way.
He also said the CM had already taken initiatives to make the state a destination for making films.
Actor Rajnikanth, meanwhile, said his recently released movie Kaala had been doing well all over the country and abroad. Asked about some dispute regarding the film in some places of Karnataka, the superstar said the same had been sorted out.
It is learnt that Rajnikanth will head for Darjeeling on 16 June, and return to Kurseong on 3 July to stay at the resort and complete other shots of the film.
Meanwhile, the vice-chariman of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) Board of Administrators, Anit Thapa, has appealed to the people of the hills to co-operate with superstar Rajnikanth as he shoots his Tamil film in the region.
“While superhit films had been shot in Darjeeling Hills earlier, the trend was hit because of frequent agitations and unrest here, which also hit the tourism industy ,” said Thapa.
“We have been taking up various measures for the allround development of the Hills and the people here, and in comparison with previous years, a large number of tourists have visited the Darjeeling hills this time. The economy of Darjeeling Hills depends on tourism. Hence, Rajnikanth’s film will also surely promote the tourism industry and encourage other film makers to make their films in the Hills,” he said.