Your Moment is Waiting attracts Chelsea Striker Drogba for God's Own Country Kerala

God's Own Country has got an unlikely backer in Chelsea FC’s star striker, Didier Drogba. The 32- year- old pin- up star, who’s also the captain of the Ivory Coast team, was all praise for the beauty of Kerala when the state’s tourism department unveiled its latest campaign film, Your Moment is Waiting , at London’s prestigious Saatchi Gallery on Tuesday night.

“Kerala is a dream place,” said the ace footballer who came to watch the new three-minute ad film along with his wife Alla, who is from Mali.

“ I hope you have enough beds in Kerala. I can see this campaign getting a lot of people visiting God’s Own Country,” he added. Footballcrazed Kerala couldn’t have got itself a better spokesman.

Chelsea FC’s home ground, the Stamford Bridge stadium, is a 20- minute walk from Saatchi Gallery. “ It’s my area. I am here to support anything that happens in my area,” said the man who was on Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people for his involvement in the peace process of his wartorn native country.

The ad film was conceived and scripted by Stark Communications, which has been handling the Kerala Tourism brand for almost two decades, and is directed by Prakash Varma of Vodafone ZooZoo fame.

Featuring the upcoming Swedish model Miriam Ilorah, Your Moment is Waiting was filmed in and around Thekkady, Alappuzha, Munnar, Thalassery and Kannur in northern Kerala.

The campaign will run in all of Kerala Tourism’s major markets around the world from next month till the middle of next year. The film will also be up on YouTube. In another first, Kerala Tourism is also targeting iPad users with an ‘ in- application’ advertising campaign.

Kerala’s Tourism Secretary V. Venu, who played host to more than 150 guests at the film’s screening, said Kerala had corresponded with “ western notions of Eden with its seductive beauty and weather”. British athlete Christine Ohuruogu, who has dropped out of next month’s Commonwealth Games citing an injury, made amends by gushing over Kerala.

“ The film reminded me a lot about African culture,” the 400m Olympic gold medallist said and added: “ Kerala seems very colourful and lively. I am going to add it to the list of destinations to visit before I die.” Suresh Kalmadi would have loved to hear those words being spoken in favour of the Commonwealth Games.