New Delhi, Sep 26 What does a loved film or web series leave behind? A melody that lingers, a romance to root for – and, sometimes, the urge to visit the city, country or café where it all unfolded.
There’s jet-setting of course but then this is ‘set-jetting’, when places slip off screens to make their way to bucket travel lists to recap the magic of the movies or just reconnect with a memory.
The growing trend of set-jetting, though not new, encourages fans to visit real-world destinations featured in their favourite movies and television series, industry insiders said ahead of World Tourism Day on Sunday.
Given that it encompasses experiences both intimate and expansive, and budgets small and big, it is climbing the popularity charts.
According to Skyscanner’s recent Travel Trends report, an estimated 94 per cent of Indian travellers are inspired to visit a destination they have seen on the big or small screen.
“Rather than seeing screen-inspired travel as short-lived spikes around a particular show or film, we see it as part of a wider and evolving way that travellers discover places,” Neel Ghose, travel trends and destinations expert at Skyscanner India, told PTI.
“We’ve seen this influence across both Indian and international titles, from ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’ inspiring travel to Manali and ‘3 Idiots’ putting Ladakh on travellers’ radars, to ‘The Crown’ and ‘Emily in Paris’ on Netflix influencing interest in London and Paris,” Ghose added.
So it’s lights, drama, travel — one filmi itinerary at a time.
The trend could have started way back in 1983 when the Sunny Deol-Amrita Singh romance “Betaab” turned Kashmir Valley’s picturesque Hajan Valley into a destination of its own. So deep was its association with the film that it came to be known as ‘Betaab Valley’, and is still known as that.
Cut to 2026. The audience has changed. The screen has changed. But the longing to visit a place seen on screen stays intact.
Jharipani Castle, up a winding Mussoorie road, is the latest case in point. “Musafir Cafe”, the Netflix series about star-crossed lovers Chander (Vikrant Massey) and Sudha (Vedika Pinto), has been drawing viewers to the property, the real-life setting behind the fictional cafe.
Built in 1932 by the British-owned Crown Breweries, the property began life as a colonial-era guesthouse before becoming a retreat of the Maharaja of Patiala. After years of neglect, the Bahri family bought it in 2003.
Nearly a century after it was built, the old castle, now a boutique hotel, is enjoying an unexpected second act.
“Earlier, we might have received four or five calls a day, but after ‘Musafir Cafe’, we were getting 50 or more calls a day — around 20 to 30 times more inquiries,” said Vikram Bahri of Jharipani Castle.
“October is almost sold out, and many bookings are coming in for November. People are just fascinated by the connection between the property and the series,” he said, feeling both overwhelmed and blessed.
The homestay has hosted shoots before, including for movies “Skyforce”, “Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain” and webseries “13 Mussoorie”. But nothing, he said, prepared him for this spike in popularity since the web series released on July 24.
The fans’ queries are as telling as the bookings.
“Guests want to know which room Vikrant stayed in, and whether they can stay there too. They ask about Preeti’s corner, the promise wall and the other spaces they have come to recognise from the screen,” said Vikram.
Then, there is that instance of Hauz Khas SOCIAL, the café-bar in south Delhi, becoming part of Ved and Tara’s story in Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha — etched in many minds as the setting for the aching strains of the hit son “Agar Tum Saath Ho”.
The café was real, the romance fictional. But it ignited curiosity, the Delhi hangout becoming a place fans wanted to see, sit in, have a drink or two and recall the melancholy setting.
“The scene continues to feel so natural and memorable even today. We saw that very clearly when we celebrated 10 years of ‘Tamasha’ with a special movie-led experience at Hauz Khas SOCIAL.
“The response was overwhelming… guests returned not only because they loved the movie, but because they wanted to revisit a feeling, recreate a frame and reconnect with a memory,” said Divya Aggarwal, chief growth officer, Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality Pvt. Ltd.
The screen-to-stay journey is visible in Varanasi too, where the more-than-two-century-old luxury heritage hotel BrijRama Palace adds another dimension to the city’s screen legacy.
Perched on the banks of the Ganga at Darbhanga Ghat, the palace has featured in several productions. It featured prominently in Satyajit Ray’s iconic 1979 Bengali mystery “Joi Baba Felunath” and has continued to cement its place in Varanasi’s cinematic landscape.
Rani Mukerji-Abhishek Bachchan starrer “Laga Chunari Mein Daag” was shot there as was Telugu action film “iSmart Shankar”. It also provided the backdrop for the evocative sitar composition “The Burning Ghats” by classic musician Rishabh Rikhiram Sharma.
“Guests recognise a corridor, façade or view from a film and mention that they have seen it before. That is perhaps the clearest indication of set-jetting effect — the screen creates the first connection, and the actual stay allows the guest to experience the place beyond the frame,” said Manish Singh, general manager of BrijRama Palace.
For self-proclaimed set-jetter Savi Desai, it’s not just about set-pieces. The 42-year-old travelled solo to France, inspired by Kangana Ranaut’s character in “Queen”. She and her husband also visited New Zealand, both drawn to the country by their shared love for epic fantasy film series “The Lord of the Rings”.
“Movies and books have always shaped the way I travel. ‘Queen’ inspired my solo trip before marriage, while my love for ‘The Lord of the Rings’ took my husband nd me to the Hobbiton movie set in Matamata, New Zealand, last year.
“For me, set-jetting is about stepping into the worlds I’ve loved on screen and on the page,” said the Mumbai-based techie.
Travellers are not the only ones taking note.
Rajasthan is looking to capitalise on the trend through its Film Tourism Promotion Policy-2025, which offers subsidies of “up to 30 per cent for eligible productions, single window clearance, a Film Facilitation Cell and easier access to government-controlled locations”.
“The growing interest among production houses is reflected in the 109 film-shooting applications received through the SSO portal by 2026, signaling growing interest in Rajasthan as a filming destination,” said Ajay Sharma, joint director (marketing) at Rajasthan Tourism.
According to Sharma, films such as “Padmaavat”, “Jodhaa Akbar” and “Rang De Basanti” helped showcase Rajasthan’s locations to a wider audience.
Set-jetting is going places. And the canvas is widening.
(PTI News)
