Thursday 8 December 2011

'Mera "Beta-ab" Yahaan Shoot Hua Tha...'

Ask Dharmendra about his son's debut film shot in Pahalgam and he would have replied saying- ' 'Mera "Beta-ab" Yahaan Shoot Hua Tha...'. If you have not heard of Sunny Deol and Amrita Singh’s 1983-released romantic-action film – ‘Betaab’, then chances are that you were either not born in India or not born in this era. ‘Betaab’ was a box office hit of 1983 as it turned out to be a magical and extremely successful combination of movie-theme, star cast, screenplay, music and locales. This cult film was produced by Dharmendra, directed by Rahul Rawail (whose earlier film 'Love Story' was also shot here), the screenplay was written by Javed Akhtar and music composed by R. D. Burman whose score “Jab Hum Jawan Honge” became a timeless melody which is strummed frequently even today – almost 3 decades hence.

The connection between this film and this valley is that Betaab valley was featured in the movie extensively which worked like a charm for the movie and the movie became a humungous hit. And it didn’t end there. Owing to the enormous popularity of this film and its romantic locales, this valley was named after Betaab !!

The picturesque Pahalgam set the tone for other Bollywood films like...
Piyush Jha’s Sikandar, Santosh Sivan’s Tahaan and Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar !!!

Sunday 20 November 2011

Hop Around India - A Journey not a destination...



When Big Becomes BIGGER- Presenting Hop Around India…


How many times have we seen a germ of an idea turning into a great one and a great idea turning into a brand? Well, this seems to be a dejavu for us which was thought about in March 2008 and turned out to be a single…oh no!, a few great ideas comprising of Baatasaari.com, Prayaanika.com, Payanigal.com respectively - to empower the traveler to exclusively visit and explore the state of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, India.
The great idea has led into a brand and not just a brand but a big brand which promises to become bigger and bigger as time passes by. Launching HopAroundIndia.com on a bigger platter to travelers around means re- architected and re-exploring India as it should be.
We are all but delighted to unveil our new brand logo, and HopAroundIndia.com website with a completely new look, feel and features emphasizing more on customized travel information on India. The website is all set to focus on providing a virtual tour of India to all its visitors, and touted to make traveling in India more affordable and accessible at the click of a mouse.
Why the change? Well, as they say- except ‘change’ everything is permanent, so we thought of a change and a change for good. As travel experts we thought people world over should know, learn and explore India the way it should be. Spoon-feed travelers, highlight unexplored regions of India, and make travelling a commodity not just for the rich and the famous…and much more. We will be directing our efforts to research develop and display useful and quality travel ideas and information to the travel community within and outside India especially with the local people who will be the back bone of this.
So get cracking and we'll always welcome your comments, feedback, and criticisms, either here or at
info@hoparoundindia.com.