Gujarat Tourism had roped in Amitabh Bachchan as their brand Ambassador & featured him in its ad campaigns promoting Gir forests, the Rann of Kutch, the Somnath temple, besides the Vijayvilas palace in Mandvi. The stategy seems to have paid off.
Amitabh Bachchan said most Gujaratis did not even know about the archaeological sites in their state. Even Gujarati NRIs frequently wrote on his blog site expressing their ignorance about such sites in Gujarat. The actor said the TV ad campaign, Khusbhoo Gujarat Ki, in which he features, has many Gujaratis responding with messages on his blog that they would visit the featured places.
Promoting his movie Buddah Hoga Tera Baap, Bachchan said, "What attracted me was the fact that the state is an important part of the country and among all the archaeological sites in India, Gujarat has most of them. It’s an honour to popularise the Gujarat Tourism.” “Each and every place I visited, whether it was the Rann of Kutch or the Gir Forest, they have extraordinary features,” the actor said.
Gujarat Tourism’s Secretary Vipul Mitra said, “Actually the second phase has already been finalized. We are covering Saputara in south Gujarat which is Gujarat’s only prominent hill station. We are also covering Ambaji which is a very prominent temple. That has been finalized at the level of honorable CM. And we are also covering Modhera sun temple. We will do couple of light and sound programmes with his voice over and part of Ahmedabad city. This is what we have planned. Depending on his schedule we will probably do it in two months time. Agency has been finalized Mr. Piyush Pande will handle it from O&M.”