Attraction of foreign locales in TV serials

Shooting in foreign locations was a trend introduced in cinemas way back in the 1960s probably by Raj Kapoor, the doyen of Bollywood. The film was ‘Sangam’ and the song was ‘Around the world in eight dollars’ with Vijayantimala as his heroine. Later the fad caught on and Indian filmdom would go to different locations to shoot the sequences. And, when the heroes and heroines wriggled their bodies and danced to the music, curious onlookers would watch their antics spellbound.

Shooting in foreign locations helped in spreading plenty of messages and, in the pre internet days, provided opportunities to watch foreign movies and get ideas to convert them into a desi version. These did not fall in the category of plagiarism but were treated in the category of ‘influenced by’.
Times has changed and today copycats are caught out too soon because this is the age of the internet and it is difficult to fool the people.
But, shooting episodes of TV serials in foreign locations is an emerging trend and it is seen as a way to keep the cast happy. Or – it could be the result of arm twisting by those who matter. The quality of a TV serial is its TRP and, when TRP rises, there is happiness all around. When some important player suddenly wants to enjoy a holiday in Singapore or in California, the producer tells the script writer to modify the episodes and include romping on the beaches of California – it throws up opportunities of skin show and improves the TRP.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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