Today India is well known across the world. The world knows Indian for its cultural diversity, warm vibe and beautiful landscape. From Himalayas to Kanyakumari, from Gujarat to Nagaland, the rich variety of Picturesque of cultures enough to amaze the world. Thousands of International tourists thronged in India, to explore the vast, versatile landscape and cultures of the Indian terrain. However there is a industry which is grooming year by year.
We can see that not only International tourist but several International film makers visiting India for cinematic purpose. Now, more and more foreign filmmakers consider India for setting their films. Julia Roberts, Ben Kingsley, Danny Boyle are some of the few celebrities have explored the nation already for filming purpose. Things are changing now after the current Party leader Modi coming into power. There have been many amendments in filming policies and brought various subsidies for film projects. The government is trying to bring all the process in single-window clearance for projects originating overseas.
We will talk in next blog about filming permits for overseas project; This Blog is dedicated to only Hollywood films shot in India. So I am going to discuss few Hollywood films which were set in India.
The Hundred-Foot Journey
This film was shot in Mumbai, which is also called the economic capital of India. The Hundred-Foot Journey is about the triumph of Indian recipes. In this film the Kadam family has culinary skills which represents Indian culture, this skills won over hearts.
Gandhi
This film was directed by Richard Attenborough who chose to set most of the sequences in India. In this film, the story of Oscar winning film ‘Gandhi’ was acted by Ben Kingsley. Gandhi’s character is fully explained as a man of man on nonviolence. Apparently Richard Attenborough took almost 18 years to complete his film ‘Gandhi’.
A Passage To India
This award winning film based on E.M Forester’s book, directed by David Lean was shot purely in Banglore, Kashmir, Gaya in Bihar state and some other locations. This film is regarded as Lean’s best film ever. He ended his illustrious career on a high note with his haunting love song to the exotic & sensual world of India.
Life of Pi
This film was shot mostly in southern part of India, including locations like Pondicherry. The film was directed by Ang Lee, which was also nominated for Oscar. The film is based on a 16-years old boy ‘Pi’ Patel who suffers a shipwreck and is stranded in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger. The film was receives awards in India for promoting Pondicherry and Munnar cities and enhancing the tourism industry.
Zero Dark Thirty
This film is based on Osama Bin Laden’s Execution. For filming ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ the team recreated the Karachi (site of operation) in the city of Chandigarh in India. Pinjore Garden, Punjab engineering college, Manimajra fort, Sector 15 market were chosen for capturing sequences. It was impossible for the Director Kathryn Bigelow to shot his film in Pakistan. The film ran into several controversies.