After conferring two National Tourism Awards on the film Life of Pi last month, the Indian Ministry of Tourism has now decided to launch an entire campaign based on the motion picture. Looking to piggyback on the success and popularity of the Oscar nominated film, the venture, dubbed the “Land of Pi” campaign, intends to draw travellers to India, especially to the destinations of Puducherry and Munnar, the two places which provided locations for the film.

Adapted by Taiwan-born director Ang Lee, the film is based on a book by the writer Yann Martel which tells the story of a young man from Puducherry (Pondicherry previously)who survives a shipwreck to journey across the Pacific Ocean, stranded on a boat with a Bengal tiger. Although, it is the ocean in all its expansive glory, that forms the backdrop for a majority of the sequences in the film, portions of the first half were also filmed in the coastal town of Puducherry and the hilly haven of Munnar, a town in Kerala. In Puducherry, the French Quarter with its wide, shady streets and French architecture and the bustling Grand Bazaar and in Munnar, the brilliantly green hills feature as settings for Pi’s life in India. The campaign will focus on promoting these two towns primarily and the south of India broadly.

The campaign is intended for all media, including print, online, electronic and outdoor. The tourism ministry already has in the works, ‘Land of Pi’ posters which will be displayed at the Indian tourism offices around the world as well as on the ‘Incredible India’ website and the sites of Puducherry and Kerala tourism departments. A television commercial for the campaign, to be played across channels, is also being planned for. A lot of care is being taken to ensure that the campaign does not cause any copyright violation.

Besides the posters and commerical, short films on the attractions of Puducherry and Munnar will be produced and broadcast through Youtube and other social media avenues. Aimed at an international audience, the campaign will be carried out in French, German, Chinese, Spanish and Japanese, besides English. Considering how well-received the movie was in some of the Asian markets, the ministry has also plans for presenting road shows in China and Taiwan in April, this year. T-shirts and caps featuring the two destinations will be distributed during these shows.

Also, campaign visuals will feature on luxury buses that journey between Chennai and Puducherry and Kochi and Munnar. Tours and walking trails are proposed at Puducherry and Munnar.