A Kerala tourism video that is human by nature

A new video by Kerala Tourism turns to the most powerful kind of influencer of all – the locals.

Tucked away on the Malabar Coast, Kerala is one of India’s most photogenic regions.

Ornate houseboats ply emerald waterways.

Fishermen pull colourfully-painted boats onto palm-fringed beaches.

Tea plantations braid cool green hills.

So it must have been tempting for the Kerala Tourism to toss a few hipster-bearded, floaty-dress-wearing influencers into the mix and create your typical Instagram-friendly promo video.

To their credit, they didn’t. Instead – and I quote –  they tried to ‘find magic in the everyday and eternity in the ordinary.’

Shot using a predominantly real-life cast, the video covers the five different terrains of the region.

It eschews the trademark slickness of a lot of tourist board promo films and instead focusses on real-life stories in Kerala.

OK, the voice over is a little over the top. And the soundtrack is overly dramatic.

But in general it the film does a pretty good job of capturing the friendliness of the locals and the laidback rhythms of life in Kerala.

Which, to our minds, are Kerala’s two greatest assets.