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Site visit to Dubai's Bollywood Theme Park

Dubai - City Times explored the massive 25 million square feet of land under construction, which will soon open up to be the biggest theme park in the region. Are you excited?

Wearing hard hats, reflective vests and constructor's boots, we set out for an overview of the still under construction site of Dubai Parks and Resorts featuring Motiongate and Bollywood Park which is scheduled to open this October. It was a learning experience to see the magnificent range and ambition with which the park is being built.
The man who wants to educate the world about Bollywood
For the last four years, superstars like Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan and Farhan Akhtar have been secretly working with the team behind Bollywood Park in Dubai to bring out the first ever Bollywood theme park. "All the films that we are featuring in Bollywood Parks, have been part of the plan since the conception stage. In the beginning of 2012, we started contacting these production houses. We wanted the involvement of Farhan Akhtar, Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Shah Rukh Khan to shoot some portions. Aamir has been involved very intensely with what we should do with Lagaan rides and also gave us a lot of feedback, including the smallest details. Salman also gave us suggestions for Dabangg. For Rock On, Farhan suggested which live band we should go for," said Thomas Jellum, General Manager of Bollywood Parks.
'Why are you not watching Bollywood movies?'
We were wondering how a Danish national was managing an Indian theme park but Thomas comes with 20 years of experience in the theme park and entertainment sector.
"I never saw a Bollywood film before coming here. But now I am watching a lot of Indian films. We are not creating a park only for Bollywood lovers; we want to make a theme park that will educate people about Hindi films. I come from Europe, we know Bollywood but we don't really know what it is. Bollywood is about emotion and drama and it has developed itself so much in the last few years.
"I think we can now put Bollywood in a global context and people will love it. Many of my Danish friends who came for dinner last week told me, 'Oh, you are so much into Bollywood now,' and I said, 'Yes, but why are you not? Instead of watching the same Hollywood movie again and again, why don't you explore a new genre of cinema?'"
 Hrithik shot a special movie for Dubai, SHAH RUKH to follow

This April, Hrithik Roshan shot for a special movie to highlight the Krissh 4 D experience at the park. The Dubai team is now co-ordinating with Shah Rukh Khan to shoot a special movie for the Don 2 zone. 
Motiongate for Hollywood fanatics
You can also have the experience of interacting with the famous Hollywood characters from The Smurfs, Shrek, How to train your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, Hotel Transylvania and many other movies. In fact, the zone of popular Hollywood studio Dreamworks is so big that it can fit five A380 aeroplanes inside wing to wing and is 22m high at its tallest point once inside.
Confessions of a Theme Park insider...
Guido Zucchi, General Manager, Motion Gate  

As someone who is building a theme park from scratch, what feeling are you going through, since you will be responsible for making so many people happy?
Well, the sentiment is one of pure excitement, of course, as this is ultimately why we are in the theme park industry - to create memorable moments for each of our guests.

How do you guys plan to deal with everyday theme park hassles like puking or medical emergencies?
Motiongate Dubai will be well-prepared as we will have first aid stations and emergency first response teams to address immediate situations. The park will also have various facilities to ensure the comfort of our guests like child facilities, toilet facilities throughout and prayer rooms. Finally, our front line teams will be undergoing intense training to ensure immediate response and escalation.   

What are the struggles that every theme park employee go through?
Well, I have to admit from my end, it's quite distracting to sit inside an office knowing that there is a massive theme park just outside your door!     The temptation is to run out and join the fun, however, the show must go on - and it's business as usual.  
arti@khaleejtimes.com