NEW DELHI – Using his persuasive skills with captains of India’s entertainment industry, after spending most of the day wooing India’s business leaders, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak welcomed Bollywood to shoot its films in Malaysia.
He spoke of his meeting with Tamil movie superstar Rajinikanth in Chennai, and how he was becoming a Tamil movie fan since the actor shot his box-office hit Kabali in Malaysia last year.
“Malaysians are huge fans of your films (from India).
“There was a great deal of interest in my meeting with Rajinikanth, and a lot of speculation if we would meet or not.
“I’m glad that we did, and the selfie I took has had quite a few views.
“I even invited Rajinikanth to shoot a sequel to Kabali in Malaysia,” he said.
Najib had met Rajinikanth at the latter’s residence in the South Indian capital on Friday.
Najib said alternatively, India could make use of Malaysian skills for their productions.
“One of the Government’s key policy aims is to make Malaysia a favoured destination for the creative industries.
“I would like to invite all of you to make Malaysia your favoured location to produce more films and TV series by leveraging on Malaysia’s unique scenery, culture, diversity and skilled talent,” he added.
The PM also cited the launch of Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios in 2014 as the largest independent integrated studio facility in South-East Asia, involving a US$120mil (S$167.7 million) investment.
He said the Government had also introduced attractive incentives for content development, specifically for film, TV and other areas of screen production.
“We have also had film crews from India come to Malaysia under our Tourism Ministry’s Mega Familiarisation programme, which is about promotion, branding and understanding of Malaysia and what we have to offer,” Najib added.
