STAR OF INDIA THE REAL It’s not a sapphire, a flag or an emblem - it’s the rich and spectacular


landscape that have made it the perfect movie backdrop - and one audiences from all over the world have been flocking to see for many years


Photography | Shutterstock Words | Richard Burton


I


ndia is a film-maker’s dream. If it didn’t exist, a set-designer would have had to invent it. From the most ordinary locations


in deserted villages to spectacular mountain landscapes, they’ve all set the stage for silver screen gems from Bollywood to Tollywood to Hollywood. It’s widely agreed that the Indian film


industry provides one of the best ways to showcase the country’s beauty and promote tourism in even the remotest and most offbeat places. The most mundane of locations have


come alive as soon as they make their way on to the big screen, attracting tourists in their thousands. The snow-covered mountains and Chinar trees of Gulmarg, for example, are now one of the best shooting locations in India, thanks to classic hits such as the 1974 Hindi romance, Aap Ki Kasam (I swear By You) and the Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia


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musical Bobby, which was filmed a year earlier. Not to mention the likes of Ye Jawani Hai Deewani, Highway, and Vishal Bhardwaj’s 2014 revenge thriller, Haider, starring Shahid Kapoor. Film-making in India is prolific with


well over 1,000 being made each year in more than 20 languages so there’s no shortage of excuses to get out and


become one of the best places for a pre-wedding shoot in India when a song sequence was shot there. It’s a country that’s constantly being discovered and re-discovered. When Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon producer Hsu-Li Kong made his first visit to the country, he immediately said he wanted to make a film here,


WHEN CROUCHING TIGER PRODUCER HSU-LI KONG MADE HIS FIRST VISIT, HE IMMEDIATELY SAID HE WANTED TO MAKE A FILM HERE


explore the possibilities. In the wider world, The Udaipur Palace may have taken 400 years to build, but it shot to comparatively overnight fame when it was featured in the James Bond movie, Octopussy, then The Jewel in the Crown and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Although set and shot in Gujarat, Raam Leela, the story of an ill-starred romance, also helped the palace


saying he was fascinated by everything from its many gods to the mundane details of Indian life. “There is a story in every nook and


cranny of the country,” he told the Hindustan Times. Filming does more than help to


promote tourism; bringing direct revenues to states, such as spending on lodgings for the cast and crew. This


SHOW DIRECTORY I SATTE 2019


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