India’s most elaborate theme park opens this week with special-effect Hindu gods and Bollywood-themed rides, aiming to tap a thirst for family entertainment among the country’s rising middle-class.

Adlabs Imagica, which cost about $294 million to create, opens its doors to the public on Thursday between the western cities of Mumbai and Pune, with capacity for 10,000 to 15,000 visitors a day.

In the style of a Disney or Universal Studios park, the new tourist site hopes to fill a gap in the Indian leisure market and comes with twists to appeal to the domestic audience.

Attractions include a “Wrath of the Gods” show, in which Hindu deities furious with humans “cause the ultimate destruction” amid temple ruins.

The “Curse of Salimgarh” involves a haunted fortress named after an old Delhi structure, while a “Mr India” motion simulation ride is based in a 1987 Hindi superhero film of the same name.

“It was our vision to create an entertainment theme park of international standards in India,” said Manmohan Shetty, whose firm Adlabs Entertainment Ltd set up the complex.

A water park, hotel and shopping area will also be launched at the 121-hectare site in phases, while Shetty plans to open another venture in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad in 2015.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/travel/world/indias-disneyland-set-to-open/story-e6frfqb9-1226624458850#ixzz2Qu4MRZJ7