Keen to see for yourself the locations where the blockbuster Indian movie 'Kabali' was shot in Malaysia?

Tourism Malaysia together with AirTravel Enterprises India Limited (ATE), are introducing the Malaysia 'Kabali'-package deal as one of their latest promotional strategies to draw Indian travelers to Malaysia.

Kollywood superstar Rajinikanth's 159th movie is a big hit and it has indirectly promoted Malaysian locations to his fans in India and across the world.

Tourism Malaysia's South India/Sri Lanka director Noor Azman Samsudin said the four days/three nights tour package, starting at Rs24,900 (RM1,500) per person (excluding airfare), is aimed to bring one million tourists from the Indian sub-continent to Malaysia this year.

"Tourism Malaysia and ATE want Indian travelers to come and experience personally the prominent places the down-to-earth star chose for his movie shooting, instead of just watching on the screen.

"Therefore, the package was specially designed for Rajni's fans to visit the places where 'Kabali' was shot, and gain a rare opportunity to experience Malaysia's uniqueness through his eyes," he told Bernama in Chennai.

Noor Azman was speaking at the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents's (Matta) inaugural road show in India to tap a larger share of the Indian outbound travel market.

The six-day Bangalore and Chennai marketing and promotion tour that ended on Aug 13, was aimed at India's outbound travel which is growing 15 to 20 percent annually and is estimated to rise to around 50 million tourists by 2020.

Underworld don

In the film, superstar Rajinikanth, whose real name is Shivaji Rao, played the role of an ageing underworld don in Malaysia named Kabaliswaran.

The film directed by Pa Ranjith was filmed at several locations in Malaysia, including Kuala Lumpur and Carey Island. Several local actors like Rosyam Nor, Norman Hakim, Zack Taipan, as well as Winston Chao of Taiwan, also appeared in the movie.

According to Noor Azman, the Malaysia-'Kabali' package offers a full day tour to the most iconic and popular tourist attractions related to the film, namely Petronas Twin Towers, Batu Caves, KLCC, Grand Salon Lobby Lounge of Palace of Golden Horses, Royal Selangor Club, Malacca, and Carey Island.

In addition, India has always been an important market for Malaysia, and currently ranks sixth among countries in terms of total tourists arrivals in Malaysia.

Together with all year-round promotion and 'Kabali' packages, Noor Azman said Malaysia expected to see a rise in the number of Indian tourists arrivals this year following a drop of 4.7 percent (168,922) in the first quarter of this year.

Last year, 177,253 Indian tourists came to Malaysia in the first quarter, with the total for the year 2015 being 722,141.

'Singham 3' scenes to be shot in M'sia

Meanwhile, ATE vice-president (Leisure) J Manoj Dass said after Rajinikanth, another Kollywood heartthrob, Suriya Sivakumar, has chosen Malaysia to shoot the latest sequel in the franchise of 'Singham 3'.

Speaking to Bernama recently, he said Suriya and his production team of 40 people would be shooting some action and song sequences of the highly anticipated movie at the end of August with Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur being the backdrop.

"Malaysia has always been the best destination for film tourism based on its fully-integrated production facilities, easygoing and friendly people, and most importantly, sharing cultural similarities with other nations, to result in cost-savings of 30-40 percent," he said.

With 21-years of experience as film location manager, Manoj, who was also involved in both 'Singham 1' and 2 productions, said ATE and Tourism Malaysia were in midst of preparing a 'Suriya' package for his ardent fans to come and visit Malaysia.

"Just like the climax of 'Singham 2' which was shot in Malaysia, 'Singham 3' will also showcase few important scenes at Petronas Twin Tower, KL Tower and several high-rise buildings," he said.

Manoj added Indian film makers were also showing interest in Legoland Malaysia Resort, situated in Nusajaya, Johor as colourful setting for their films.

Besides 'Kabali' and 'Singham 3', South Indian famous actor Vikram's film 'Iru Mugan' had completed shooting in Malaysia early this year. Several popular Bollywood movies were also shot in Malaysia such as 'Don' and 'Don 2', 'Fanna', 'DilMaange More', 'Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin', 'Humraaz' and 'Yaadein'.

A significant portion of Shah Rukh Khan's 'Don' was filmed in Malaysia, including scenes shot at the Malacca prison, Petronas Towers and the sky bridge in Langkawi.

- Bernama