NEW DELHI: Shah Rukh Khan's new TV show starting on Tuesday explores new frontiers of Indian diplomacy — more specifically, how Bollywood is at the cutting edge of influencing new continents.
The TV series 'Wipe Out (Zor ka Jhatka)' will show stunning videos of Argentina for the next couple of weeks. R Viswanathan, Indian ambassador in Argentina, said all 16 episodes of this Khan extravaganza were shot in Buenos Aires. "Indian cameramen were fascinated with the fantastic sceneries of the El Calafate Glacier and the Iguazu Waterfalls and could not stop shooting," he said.
After treating an entire generation of Indians to Alpine views from Tyrol, Austria and Switzerland, Bollywood set out to conquer Australia and New Zealand, spearheaded by gravity-challenging dance moves of Hrithik Roshan. It didn't take long for Bollywood movies to be shot in New Zealand, followed by Bollywood-crazy tourists from India. Aamir Khan wooing Preity Zinta at the Sydney Opera House to Ajay Devgn's 'Company'... they did it all.
Now Bollywood will gyrate in skimpy sarees in Machu Picchu ( Peru) and Munni could be "badnaam" in the dangerously attractive waters of the Amazon, or the Iguazu Waterfalls in Argentina. The popular 'Dhoom II' was shot in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as were some scenes in Rajnikant's 'Robot'. The Indian envoy said Illusion Studios of Buenos Aires has tied up with Toonz Animation Ltd of Thiruvananthapuram to make a cartoon film (Gaturro) which was a box office hit in Argentina in 2010.
Aamir Khan, though, may have stolen a march on Shah Rukh. His wife, Kiran Rao's new film "Dhobi Ghat", which released last week, has yet another Latin American connection. Already alluded to by Viswanathan in his blog, the film's music director Gustavo Santaolalla is Argentinian. "Gustavo is a pioneer in the rock music scene of Argentina in the late sixties and seventies," Viswanathan said.
