Akshay Kumar attends the Red Sea film festival in Jeddah

“I will tell all my colleagues to come and shoot in Saudi Arabia,” said Indian superstar Akshay Kumar in a conversation on Wednesday at the first edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival in old town Al Balad in Jeddah. The conversation was hosted by the festival’s Director of International Programming Kaleem Aftab.

Kumar discussed his career and the evolution of Bollywood, as well as the hopes he has for future cooperation between India’s soft power and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning film industry. Not only are Indian films (and stars and filmmakers) immensely popular and widely viewed in KSA, the country is also interested in attracting Bollywood shoots as part of its efforts towards an all round development of its fledgling film industry. Cinema could well be the new oil that binds the bilateral ties.