Mind over masala

When reel meets real: Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt spend some cosy moments on the IIM campus

It’s not the first time that a college campus has been used to shoot a film, but it’s the first time that the love story of the film actually developed in a campus where the film was shot. Debutant director Abhishek Varman’s 2 States which is based on Chetan Bhagat’s book by the same name, and talks about his real life love story was shot at the same places where Bhagat and his beau studied.
“It was very surreal when I joined the cast and crew of 2 States in Ahmedabad at the Indian Institute of Management- Ahmedabad (IIM-A) for the shoot. That’s where my wife and I studied. The film was shot in the same dormitories where we sat, the Louis Khan Plaza where Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt’s convocation is shown in the film is the same place where I got my degree and also hostels where I stayed were captured. IIM-A has a very distinctive structure made of red bricks and is unlike any of the IIMs anywhere else. It’s very unique that a mainstream Bollywood film is captured in an intellectual place like the IIM. Being an alumnus of the Institute and Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions’ reputation helped in getting the required permissions, which would otherwise have been next to impossible,” said Bhagat who has also written, the film’s screenplay.
2 States starring Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt releases on April 18.