Imagine watching Bollywood’s latest smash flick in a cinema somewhere in India, with its traditional boy-meets-girl storylines and the inevitable big song-and-dance number, and suddenly you see images of the Dutch city of The Hague. Its city council would love to see that happen, but Indian film producers have yet to discover the beauty of The Hague as a Bollywood backdrop.

Hence the warm welcome extended to a group of Indian film producers during The Hague’s first Indian Film Festival, held during the inaugural India Month. Marjolein de Jong, who is one of the city’s alderwomen and responsible for international relations, says The Hague is a brilliant setting for a foreign film.

Number one location
“Film and TV producers in the Netherlands have been coming to The Hague for a long time now, making it the Netherlands’ number one film location,” she told RNW. “Indian film producers have been shooting films outside India for years. They know the combination of the traditional Bollywood concept and a European setting can work. So why not in The Hague?”

Europe as a backdrop for a Bollywood is indeed nothing new – scenes that require a ski slope are often filmed in Austria, wealthy families abroad usually live in London, and recently an Indian road movie called There Are No Second Chances in Life was filmed almost entirely in Spain, with the main characters visiting several cities and immersing themselves in Spanish culture.

Tourism
Interest in Spain as a tourist destination has grown considerably as a result, with some Indian cities even planning their own Tomatino festivals.

Ms De Jong takes this Spanish success as an example. “The Hague has so much to offer. We have lovely beaches, we have architecture, royal palaces, parliament buildings – everything you’d want in a city. We’d love to show that to Indian audiences.”

Capital
The Hague also likes to portray itself as the international capital of peace and justice, with major UN institutions such as the International Criminal Court and the Peace Palace located in the city. “It’s important for us to show the world that we’re an important city,” says Ms De Jong.

But will we be seeing big song and dance numbers performed at Scheveningen beach, on the outskirts of The Hague? Or a scene on the steps of its famous Peace Palace? Rahul Puri, vice-president of film producers Mukta Arts Ltd and producer of the Indian Film Festival’s opening film, Noukadoubi, says the city has a lot to offer.

Hindus
“To me, The Hague is an eye opener. I never knew it had such a large population of ethnic Hindus. It would be fabulous to explore the city’s possibilities,” he says.

“We’re always looking for new foreign locations. We’ve seen London and New York. You don’t want to film in a city that filmgoers already saw in a film they went to see a couple of weeks ago.”

Pile of money
But what does it take to lure an Indian film producer to come and shoot in The Hague? A big bag of cash? Surprisingly, that’s not what counts, says Mr Puri.

“The Bombay film industry is rich enough. We have sufficient funds. What is important is a sense of partnership – we’re looking for cities that want to help us with accommodation, travel, permits or skilled local crew, not just with a pile of money.”

Which sounds like music to Ms De Jong’s ears. “We don’t have bags of money to offer,” she says, “so we have to be creative. We always try to enable film makers to work here as smoothly as possible. We help them get past rules and regulations.”

Mileage
Mr Putri states that money alone should never be the problem. “A city can get so much out of it,” he says. “They could get a lot of mileage from a Bollywood movie. We sell three billion tickets each year in India. People watch Bollywood movies on over 200 million TV sets. The exposure you get is almost limitless.”

“And don’t forget: while we’re here, we spend quite a lot of money too,” he says, adding that an average Bollywood production could spend up to three million dollars abroad, depending on the time spent in a foreign location.

Burning down The Hague
For Ms De Jong, Bollywood’s opportunities in The Hague are virtually endless. “As long as they portray The Hague in a positive light," she says. "Making a movie about burning down The Hague would be a bit of a problem, wouldn’t it? That wouldn’t be my number one option.”