Bharati K Dubey (DNA; January 25, 2018)

Dharma Productions is probably the first Bollywood production house to shoot in Israel. They have shot their upcoming film Drive, directed by Tarun Mansukhani, which stars Sushant Singh Rajput and Jacqueline Fernandez in the Middle East country. Dharma CEO Apoorva Mehta speaks about Israel and his plan to have a theatrical release there.

What prompted you to shoot Drive in Israel?
I believe we are the first production house to film there. The narrative of Drive needed a certain portion to be shot abroad. Our director Tarun was looking for a location that offered all the cinematic trappings in one place — a scenic city scape, frisky beaches and location that was a blend of cultural heritage and the affluence of modern city. Our executive producer was in touch with the Tourism minister, who told her that we could look for Israel as an option.

There are reports that you will shoot Brahmastra there as well...
No, we are not going back to shoot for Brahmastra, but we are working with one person residing in Israel. He is Ido Portal, a holistic movement specialist, who is helping us with the styling for Brahmastra. We shot a dance-and-song sequence, which turned out to be a wonderful experience. We were very impressed with the way things were planned and laid out for us, so everything went off smoothly.

But do Bollywood films release in Israel?
There was a time when films did release in Israel. I remember meeting the distributor, but I think mostly the releases were on TV. Israel is a small territory and they are still not ready for it.

Do you intend to have a theatrical release of Drive?
There is a thought to release Drive in cinemas in Israel. We will definitely work around it, if we have somebody who can support us there. We will work with the Consul General and the Tourism Minister.