Jeremy Page in Delhi
Win luxury hampers plus Waitrose vouchers & guidebooks

To the citizens of Slough it is simply a mundane shopping centre, but to visitors from India Queensmere could soon become a place of pilgrimage. For it is one of the more unlikely locations to feature on a new map showing where Bollywood movies were filmed.
The map — which marks obscure locations such as a Surrey football ground, Stansted airport and a pub in Harefield — is to be distributed next week in the latest effort to attract more Indian tourists to Britain.
“If you must, you can even reenact elaborate song and dance scenes from your favourite films right on the spot where they were shot,” reads the blurb alongside the map, available on visitbritain.co.in. It is being produced to coincide with the International Indian Film Academy Awards ceremony, the Bollywood Oscars, which starts in Yorkshire on June 7.
About 3,000 copies of the map will be handed to film stars, directors, producers and fans at the four-day ceremony, which is being held in Britain because of the importance of the British market for Bollywood. VisitBritain will also distribute more than 50,000 copies in India.
“What we want to do is to cash in on the craze for Indian films and link the interest in travelling to Britain with the interest in films,” Paramjit Bawa, head of the VisitBritain Delhi office, told The Times.
VisitBritain first produced a Bollywood map of Britain in 2001, but it contained only a handful of sites, such as the Blackpool seafront, which featured in the 1994 film Bhaji on the Beach. The new map includes sites from 30 films, including Molesey Football Club’s ground in Surrey, where parts of the 2002 hit Bend it Like Beckham were filmed, and Slough’s Queensmere centre, where some of the 2001 Bollywood film Yaadein was set.
The map is part of a new drive by VisitBritain to attract more Indian tourists, especially to areas beyond the traditional tourist hubs of London and Edinburgh. It illustrates the enormous influence of the Indian film industry, which produces an average 800 movies each year and has developed a taste for foreign settings since India’s economy began opening to the world in 1991.
It also reflects the growing spending power of the new Indian middle class, which the McKinsey consultancy predicts will turn the country into the world’s fifth-biggest consumer market by 2025.
VisitBritain’s own research shows that the number of Indian visitors to Britain hit 400,000 last year, an increase of about 16 per cent over the previous year, and that they spent more money per head than their Japanese counterparts in London last year.
Mr Bawa said that he expected the number of Indian visitors to continue growing at current rates for the next two to three years, fuelled principally by the growth of the middle class and by cheaper and easier air travel.
Location, location, location
— The King’s Arms pub in Harefield, West London, as well as the Queensmere shopping centre, Slough, and Thorpe Park theme park are used in Yaadein
— Bicester Village shopping centre in Oxfordshire provided the backdrop for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham in 2001
— Molesey Football Club in Surrey and the Contessa lingerie shop in Twickenham, West London, appeared in Bend it Like Beckham
— More impressive, but a bit more remote, is Dolbadarn Castle in Wales, which featured in the 2004 film Kyun! Ho Gaya Na
Read the training tips and advice that helped our London Triathletes
Times Online's new TV show helps you make the right decisions for your pet
Read our exclusive 100 Years of Fleming and Bond interactive timeline, packed with original Times articles and reviews
The latest travel news plus the best hotels and gadgets for business travellers
Shortcuts to help you find sections and articles
2007
£47,995
2008
£42,945
06/2006
£40,850
Great car insurance deals online
£33,000
Macmillan Cancer Support
Central/South West
£50k
NHS
Nationwide
£
£30k OTE
Meltwater News
Nationwide
circa £70k
Central Office of Information
London
5% below developer pre-launch price!
Luxury Appts, beautiful gardens w/ Thames views
Great Homes Available on a shared Ownership Basis
Great Investment, River Views
Visit the ‘entertainment capital of the world’
at great sale prices!
Christmas Cruises
From only £995pp
APTs East Coast now from only
£2425pp.
Great travel insurance deals online
Contact our advertising team for advertising and sponsorship in Times Online, The Times and The Sunday Times. Globrix Property Search - find property for sale and rent in the UK. Visit our classified services and find jobs, used cars, property or holidays. Use our dating service, read our births, marriages and deaths announcements, or place your advertisement.
Copyright 2008 Times Newspapers Ltd.
This service is provided on Times Newspapers' standard Terms and Conditions. Please read our Privacy Policy.To inquire about a licence to reproduce material from Times Online, The Times or The Sunday Times, click here.This website is published by a member of the News International Group. News International Limited, 1 Virginia St, London E98 1XY, is the holding company for the News International group and is registered in England No 81701. VAT number GB 243 8054 69.