ABSTRACT
The rapidly growing Indian film industry has been incorporating European locations since the 1960s. Picturesque film sites exert great attraction on audiences while sparking new business networks between India and Europe. This chapter focuses on the representation of landscapes and the depiction of landscape features in Indian films shot in Europe. The empirical part of the study is based on a sample of 34 films shot in five European countries – Finland, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland – and involves a quantitative analysis of 594 film scenes. For examining each scene, a set of 8 general and 15 landscape-related variables were elaborated. The results show a wide variety of landscape elements. Urban areas – which are predominant – are mainly represented by both historical and modern images, and green and blue infrastructure. The countryside is predominantly represented by forests, meadows and grasslands, villages, mountains, and fields, and less often by vineyards and water elements. Moreover, there is a clear divide in representation between central and northern Europe, with the former being based on (medieval) heritage, culture, and tradition, whereas northern Europe relies more on modern urban fabric.
