HYDERABAD: The French are wooing Bollywood in a big way and have, at the same time, initiated steps to tap the huge potential for commercial promotion of their cinema in India.

As part of efforts to forge a deeper relationship with India in the field of cinema, the French Government has decided to sponsor a tour of 10 producers, mostly from Bollywood and centres of other Indian languages, to theme locations in France soon after the Cannes festival. Veteran filmmakers, Yash Chopra and Bobby Bedi, would be part of the delegation that would visit Ile-de-France (Paris region), Lyon, Poitiers and other places.

"We are trying to attract Indian film producers to shoot in France and have already taken certain measures", Mohamed Bendjebbour, Audiovisual attache (Film & TV Department), French Embassy in India, told The Hindu on Thursday.

As a result of the measures, Shah Rukh Khan would be travelling to Paris next week for a three-day shooting of "Don," being directed by Farhan Akthar.

The measures include giving tax exemption for all expenses of producers, free transportation and accommodation in some regions.

The French Government also agreed to allow cooks of Indian film crews to use kitchens in Accor group of hotels across France.

One of the major advantages of shooting in France was that one could travel in less than an hour from the Alps to the Eiffel Tower.

Tribute to Amitabh

He said that in a tribute to Amitabh Bachchan some of his films would be screened in Paris at the end of 2006 or the beginning of next year.

On the move to promote French cinema commercially in India, he said French films were "very well appreciated" at the various festivals in the country.

Pointing to the arrival of multiplexes and the growing middle class, he said, "We want to go beyond festival public and see that the French films are released commercially."

As part of this effort, the French Embassy has created a fund to partly finance dubbing of French movies into Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and other languages. The distributors would be provided amounts ranging from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 3 lakh.

Apart from the Embassy Fund, the French Government would also provide financial support for marketing.

A French Film Office at Mumbai in September was also on the cards. Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo and Beijing are the other cities where such offices have been set up by the French Government.

Against one or two films a year in the past, at least 12 French films were sold to Indian distributors in the last three months, including the documentary "March of the Penguins."

Mr. Bendjebbour said this documentary would be dubbed into English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

The voice-over in Hindi would be done by Amitabh Bachchan. It is expected to be released in April/May.

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