NEW DELHI: UTV Motion Picture‘s movie starring Ranbir Kapoor ‘Barfi‘, has received an award for the best Hindi film shot on an Indian location. The film is also India‘s official nomination to the Oscars.

Held for the first time, the awards recognized the contribution of cinema to tourism growth. The awards were given away in four different segments by Ramesh Sippy, Mahesh Bhatt and noted film maker and chairman of MAMI Shyam Benegal, and T P Aggarwal, president of IMPPA.

The award was received by Anurag Basu and Siddharth Roy Kapur at the 6th annual Cinemascapes, an event that celebrates the coming together of cinema and tourism, held in Mumbai recently. It brought together 14 exhibiting companies to meet with the professionals in the film fraternity. The event has been supported by the Film and Television Producers Guild of India as its anchor partner since its inception and this year it also became a part of the Mumbai Film Festival.

Ritesh Sidhwani received the award for the best Hindi Film shot on International locations for ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara‘ which has been shot in Spain, a country that received stupendous growth in its Indian arrivals after the release of the film.

The awards also recognized the journey of South Indian films in going aboard. ‘Ordinary‘ and ‘Dookadu‘ were memorable in popularising destinations. Fox Star Studio represented by Vivek Krishnani received an award for the film "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" as the best International film shot on Indian Cinemascapes.

Apart from films, television soaps and TVCs were also recognized for their contribution in popularizing locations in India and Overseas. Balaji film CEO Tanuj Garg the of received an award for the best general entertainment TV fiction shot in an overseas location for ‘Bade Achhe Lagte Hain‘ and Sumit received the best general entertainment TV fiction award on an Indian location for ‘Diya aur Baati‘.

The best TVC shot on a cinemascape - International was ‘Cinthol Soap World‘, while ‘Visa Kashmir‘ received the best TVC shot on cinemascape in India. In addition, the Jury also recognized the contribution made by the directors and cinematographers for films such as ‘Rockstar‘ and ‘Urumi‘.

The contribution made by the destinations was also recognized. Goa was chosen as the best cinemascape destination in India and Thailand as the best cinemascape destination overseas.

The late Yash Chopra was remembered for his outstanding contribution in promoting Cinemascapes in his films over the years and was conferred with a special award by the Jury.

The Film and Television Producers Guild of India was represented by Guild President Mukesh Bhatt and veterans Amit Khanna, Ramesh Sippy, Bobby Bedi and Manish Goswami during the daylong event.

The event was also supported by other leading industry association including the IMPPA with the presence of its president T P Aggarwal, Film Federation of India represented by L. Suresh and Ravi Kottarakara, representatives of Motion Pictures Association of America, and Entertainment Society of Goa CEO Manoj Srivastava.

The award ceremony was preceded by two days of discussing challenges in the sector and how the film industry was reaching out in search for Cinemascapes, to enhance the quality and appeal of cinema, and how destination promoters were eagerly wooing the cinema world, thereby increasing the tourism potential of their destinations.

Japan made its entry into this space in India for the first time, with its futuristic city of Sapporo in the province of Hokkaido coming forward as the platinum partner. Sarawak in Malaysia, teamed with other states in Malaysia and made an aggressive bid for bringing Bollywood to its shores, and also promoted its forthcoming international film festival.

The Indian states of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh continued with their support of the event, coming as Platinum and Silver partners, and made impressive product presentations to the film industry.

Zagreb in Croatia came as presentation partner; as did Starwood Hotels and Resorts to sell hotel rooms and also its properties as enviable backdrops for film shootings, both in India and abroad. Individual exhibitors too made their mark. Delhi Tourism is on the anvil to become the single window for cinema shooting in the capital. U-Turn Tax Refund made interesting offers to help get refunds on time and help balance the economics of film shooting; Dubai and Thailand, among others, met with keen film makers and sold their destinations.