Sabah hopes to charm Indian tourists with locally filmed Tamil movie

 By Olivia Miwil - March 16, 2025 @ 5:59pm

Renowned producer of V Creations from India, Prabu Thanu (third, left) handover the proposal for joint collaboration between V Creations India and Sabah Tourism Board (STB) to shot a movie in Sabah in 2025 during the press conference in Tanjung Aru. STB Chief of Executive, Julinus Jeffery Jimit (third, right). NSTP/MOHD ADAM ARININ

KOTA KINABALU: An Indian movie in the pipeline, which is planned to be the first of its kind to be shot entirely in Sabah, may raise the state's profile and attract more visitors from India.

V Creations producer Prabu Thanu, whose company is based in Chennai, said after scouting several sites in the state for three days, his team had found potential locations for their romantic-thriller movie.

"All the places (that we visited) are potential destinations… the streets and city areas, Mount Kinabalu. We may also consider Semporna.

"Once we go back to Chennai, then we will sort out what the places are and how many days we film there.

"This movie will be filmed 100 per cent in Sabah and it will take a maximum of three months for the filming process.

"We expect to bring between 80 and 100 crew members and may also utilise the local manpower " he said in a press conference at a hotel here.

He added that the filming, which is expected to begin next year, would become the production company's 50th movie and the first to be produced in Sabah for south Indian viewers.

Prabu is the son of renowned Kalaipuli S. Thanu, a prominent Tamil film producer, director and distributor in Chennai.

The movies produced by his father were top hits and well-known in India, with three ranking among the top 10 highest-grossing Tamil films.

The collaboration was made possible following a Borneo (Sabah & Sarawak) destination presentation in Chennai on April 18 last year to the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC).

Present at the press conference were Sabah Tourism Board chief executive officer Julinus Jeffery Jimit and senior marketing manager Humphrey Ginibun, production company manager and cameraman Kailasam Abambaram, movie producer Dinesh Babu and SS World Holiday India director Punniya Ramanathan Ravichandran.

Julinus said the Sabah Tourism board would facilitate the movie production by V Creations as the board's ultimate plan was to position Sabah as a filmmaking destination.

He added that if the movie was successful in attracting tourists from India, the intention was to establish direct flights between Sabah and India when there was demand.