Gujarat beckons Bollywood

Executive producer of Krrish 3 Shammi Saini told The Indian Express,“I wanted to shoot some portions of a song sequence for Krissh 3 in the Rann of Kutch and the Western Ghats. I thought that instead of shooting on foreign locations let me look homewards.”

Ghayal Returns,sequel to the 1990 action movie,starring Sunny Deol and Bipasha Basu will see a 40-day shoot on the M S University campus in the coming months. “We will shoot an action sequence at the university for about 40 days,” said director Rahul Rawail.

Besides Hindi films,Tamil and Telegu movies covet the seasonally marshy saline white desert situated at the Greater Rann of Kutch and the Little Rann of Kutch for song sequences. Lately,heritage properties like Vadodara’s Laxmi Vilas Palace and the stepwells at Rani ki Vav at Patan and Adalaj are being added to that list for shooting.

“Vishal Bhardwaj’s Matru ki Bijlee ka Mandola,which stars Imran Khan,Anushka Sharma,Shabhana Azmi and Pankaj Kapoor,wrapped up its Gujarat leg of shoot in March at our palace,” said Keshri Singh,scion of the picturesque Wankaner palace.

Director Tigmanshu Dhulia returned to shoot at the Devgadh Baria palace for Sahib,Biwi Aur Gangster’s sequel in April while Shruti Hasan starrer Gabbar Singh — the Telegu remake of Dabangg — was shot in Kutch.

Shortcut Romeo that stars Neil Nitin Mukesh,Puja Gupta and Amesha Patel and directed by Susi Ganeshan will be filmed at Dhordo in Kutch,and Surendranagar.

“As we want the picturesque background of the caked sands at Dhordo and Surendranagar for a song sequences,we might freeze some locations once the climate permits,” said Sanjay Singh,executive producer for the film.

While many TV serials and Bhojpuri films have been a mainstay of Gujarat,now even Hindi filmmakers are finding the state attractive. “We have never encountered any unruly mobs or crowds while shooting here as compared to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh,” said Bhojpuri film producer-director Raj Kumar Pandey who has shot almost at least five films in the state.