Maldives, blessed with exquisite beauty and popular among tourists across the globe, wants Bollywood to explore its tropical locales, including some of the world’s finest lagoons, and has offered one of its islands entirely for filmmaking.

Bollywood industry could be promoted in Maldives in the same manner as has happened in Seychelles and Mauritius, Maldivian tourism minister Toyyid Mohammad said here.

“We have already proposed that one of the islands could be turned into a studio to shoot movies. Hopefully, it will materialise by next year,” he said.

With a population of just 6.5 lakh, including 85,000 Indians, Maldives’ economy relies mainly on tourism and Bollywood filmmakers can definitely help promote this ‘paradise on earth’ among Indians by shooting in its exotic locations, Satyeash Pai of ‘Shades of Maldives’, a leading travel agency here, said.

Noting that Hrithik Roshan was in Maldives to shoot parts of his last release ‘Kites’, he said the country’s picturesque locales are ideal to be captured on camera.

Maldives’ keenness to invite Bollywood filmmakers to shoot their movies here is also reflected in the fact that most of the people in this country are huge fans of megastars like Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan.

Though most of the inhabited islands are devoid of cinema halls, the people watch their favourite actors on TV, with cable operators providing them access to both latest and old Hindi flicks.

Not only Indian movies, the ‘saas-bahu’ sagas made by Ekta Kapoor are also popular among Maldivians, especially women, said Mohamed Salih Hassan, General Manager Operations and Project/Director for Adaaran luxury resorts.

“Local people really like to watch Hindi movies and serials. Stars like Shahrukh, Aamir, Salman and Aishwarya are quite popular among them, including kids,” he said.

Hindi films are a big source of entertainment for Maldivians, said Shakir, a butler in a restaurant.

“People often talk about Bollywood and the movies they have seen,” he added.