London: Bollywood’s fetish for shooting in exotic locations abroad has been well known since long. To bring a dash of novelty, filmmakers have been trying several unexplored foreign locations like Bulgaria, Mexico, Auckland, Belgium, Ireland, Egypt, Poland and more. Despite new unexplored countries, the glamour of United Kingdom has remained unfazed.
Berkshire a picturesque county in South East England located close to West London recently came alive with a dash of glamour when Bollywood actress Huma Qureshi along with her brother Saqib Saleem shot for 'Zahhak', Indian remake of Hollywood horror thriller 'Oculus'. The original writer of 'Oculus', Mike Flanagan, who is also associated with the Hindi version, suggested an exotic location such as Berkshire was much required to keep the eerie feeling of the movie alive. Huma’s connection with UK will continue as she will soon shoot for British-Indian Gurinder Chaddha’s new movie 'The Viceroy House', opposite Indian-American actor Manish Dayal, of 'The Hundred Foot Journey' fame.
Indian filmmakers have always had a fetish to shoot in foreign locations as the early film dates back to 1967 when Raj Kapoor shot in foreign locales for ‘Around the World In Eight Dollars’.
Late filmmaker Yash Chopra is the one who sparked the craze for Switzerland by shooting most of his films and dream songs in the Swiss snow-capped mountains. His final film 'Jab Tak Hai Jaan', starring Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma was entirely shot in UK. The crew had to painstakingly get busy Camden Town cleared in order to shoot the hit number 'Saans'.
The love for UK was triggered by the cult romantic 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' which explored the unglamorous Southall, the biggest Punjabi settlement in London. Going by his vast South Asian fan following settled in London, Shah Rukh Khan was the first to shoot inside Madam Tussaud’s in London for the film Fan, directed by Maneesh Sharma, earlier this year.
After the success of 'Namaste London', which featured Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, filmmaker Vipul Shah is ready with another installment Namaste England which will be set in the backdrop of England and revolve around Punjabi Diaspora in UK.
'Namaste London' that was shot in Canary Wharf and Greenwich Naval College had also collaborated with British actors Nina Wadia and Tiffany Macfaden.
Saif Ali Khan, who was educated in London, has always expressed his affinity for shooting in UK. This also goes on to explain why he was roped in the national tourism agency of Britain. As a face of Visit Britain Tourism campaign, Saif was expected to promote Britain in Bollywood movies. His upcoming action thriller Kabir Khan directed Phantom which also stars Katrina Kaif was shot in popular British-Gujarati dominated Wembley and Ealing Road in London.
Several landmark tourist destinations can be seen in the backdrop in 'Mohabbatein', 'Paa', 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham', 'Mujhse Dosti Karoge' among others. R Balki’s 'Cheeni Kum' was extensively shot in the real locations such as Piccadilly Circus, Beauchamp Place in Knightsbridge, Carlos Place in Mayfair and Chelsea.
Abhishek Bachchan’s 'Jhoom Barabar Jhoom' has been shot at the Chelsea Football Club while Goal starring John Abraham was shot in Wembley. The crew had to arrange for special team to control the British-Asian fans who had gathered to catch a dekko of their favourite B-town actors.
Despite the increasing craze to explore new countries to shoot, London continues to be on the top list for Bollywood filmmaker. Filmmaker Yash Chopra once described how foreign locations remain an intrinsic character in his films. He rightly mentioned that Switzerland offers a breathtakingly beautiful location but England provides a distinct character in his films. Clearly, it was the Diaspora he was referring to that has a strong affinity for Bollywood.
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