MUMBAI: After being the scenic backdrop of a lot of Hindi films shot in Switzerland so far, the country that is famous for its Alpine settings and beautiful scenic locales is pitching for regional Indian cinema.

The Swiss tourism industry has started working in tandem with the Film Location Switzerland, an organisation to attract regional Indian filmmakers from Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Bengali cinema.

Says Switzerland Destination marketing general manager Ashish Saran, "We offer all facilities to filmmakers by way of package deals. Technical help, shooting equipment, or scouts to fix locales are all available in plenty in Switzerland. Though the Hindi film industry has been regularly making use of our locales in particular, we now want to give the regional Indian cinema here as a major business opportunity - to promote our tourism industry,"

India makes around 1,000 films a year, the largest by any country. Estimates suggest that more than 200 Hindi films have been shot in Switzerland till date. Recent Hindi films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Kabhi Khushi Khabhi Gham and Mujhse Dosti Karogi have all presented Switzerland in a new light to Indian tourists.

Recently, Swiss Consul-General in Mumbai Josef Renggli had gone to Hyderabad to woo Telugu and Tamil producers to shoot in his country. Avers Renggli, "The response I got from the filmmakers was encouraging and heartening. There are a whole lot of non-Hindi filmmakers waiting to tap our locales.''

It may be noted that several scenes from the late Shakti Samanta's An Evening in Paris had major scenes shot in Switzerland. A scene in the film, supposedly depicting the Niagara Falls was actually filmed at the Rhein Falls, Switzerland.