Shooting stars under the desert sun

It's time for shooting stars in Rajasthan. From Hollywood actors to stars of daily television soaps...

It8217;s time for shooting stars in Rajasthan. From Hollywood actors to stars of daily television soaps, the state is playing host to the cream of celebrity land, and enjoying it too.

The state8217;s tourism industry is just loving the renewed attention. Bigger cities like Jaipur, Udaipur and the sand dunes of Jaisalmer were quite popular8212;both as tourists destinations and shooting locations.

However, Bollywood has now discovered a greater fondness to the lesser known but equally beautiful locations in the state. Officials here say this is mainly why smaller places like Bikaner are now becoming popular, increasing their scope of developing into major tourist destinations.

Bikaner and Gajner have come into the limelight after the star-studded shooting of Eklavya. Now, Dron, a period film by director Goldie Behl starring Abhishekh Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra, is being canned here. Gajner also played host to Dino Morea, Koena Mitra and Minissha Lamba, when they were in Bikaner recently to shoot for Ananth Mahadevan8217;s romantic thriller, Anamika-The Untold Story.

Bikaner Collector Alok Gupta believes movies shot in Rajasthan are indirectly promoting and enhancing tourism prospects for the state. 8220;Apart from the fact that the state earns a fair deal of revenue from the shootings, the tourism sector which is being best benefited. Earlier, tourism was restricted to the bigger cities, now it has trickled down to the lesser known and smaller towns,8221; says Gupta.

Similar is the story of Dausa, a small district near Jaipur. The Abhaneri Fort in this district is where Amisha Patel is shooting a song sequence for her forthcoming movie Bhul Bhulaiya. 8220;It is a good thing that locations in the state are being chosen; we hope more and more shootings take place here. After all, it8217;s making the lesser known places popular,8221; says Dausa Collector H K Damor.

Ashutosh Gowarikar has just completed the shooting of Jodha-Akbar in Jaipur. The Pink City played host to Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai who stayed here for over a month during the shooting schedules at Devigarh Fort.

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Earlier this months, Hollywood stars Owen Wilson and Adrian Brody finished shooting for Darjeeling Limited in Udaipur.

A major part of this movie has been shot in Jodhpur. Udaipur was also the place where Sanjay Dutt, Ritesh Deshmukh and Arshad Warsi shot for their film Dhamal.

Also on cards is Telugu film Atithi, directed by Y Surender Reddy and staring Prince Maheshbabu and Amritha Rao, Sajid Khan8217;s Heyy Babyy, Mani Ratnam8217;s Lajjo staring Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor and Shyam Benegal8217;s Chamki Chameli.