Movies play a crucial role in entertaining people and driving messages of various kinds. This could be of social relevance, religion, culture, life, stories etc and more. A new kind of cinema has emerged in the last few decades which delivers more than just these messages, at times knowingly and at times unknowingly promoting destination tourism. One such recent hit has been the Malayalam movie “Ordinary”.
Ordinary’s story revolves around a KSRTC ( Kerala State Road Transport Corporation) bus which operates between a remote village in Kerala called Gavi and the nearby city of Pathanamthitta. It portrays a KSTRC bus, the bus driver, its conductor and the villagers at Gavi and their life. Filled with rocking comics acts , emotion and drama this movie is a true entertainer and winner. Each character has been enacted well and the star of the movie turns out to be the bus driver who with his catchy accent and comic acting outwits everyone else.
The scenic natural beauty of Gavi has been captured well in the lens by the movie makers. This creative depiction has created a never before kind of tourist interest in Gavi. Gavi Eco Tourism has been promoted by Kerala Tourism across the globe in the past few years and has evoked a very mild response. Kerala Tourism initiative in recognizing the Ecotourism Hotspots in Kerala has been commendable and the department has put in effort in pushing these products to0 , but never got the mileage like this. A movie like ordinary is a fine example in addressing the fact that Destination promotion can be done well through movies and the biggest clients are the ones next to you within the state and neighboring states.
After this movie was released domestic tourism has taken an upswing and plenty of tourists have started travelling to Gavi. However the infrastructure level is too limited to the handle this inflow, besides there are lot of restrictions as Gavi falls in the Periyar Tiger Reserve. Best option is to stay at Thekkady, Kerala, India, where there are plenty of hotel and resort options and to travel to Gavi on a day excursion as there are Jeep Safaris being operated from Thekkady on a daily basis which starts in the morning and ends late evening.
There are plenty of things to be done in Kerala, this is just one of them. Kerala Tourism lists 101 things to do in Kerala and variety of Kerala Tour packages available incorporates many of these activities. Gavi tourism is on the rise thanks to Ordinay – An extraordinary Malayalam movie.
