Many Bollywood filmmakers have ditched popular locations to explore untapped interiors
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 17, 2018)

RAAZI’S SEARCH ENDS AT THE VALLEY OF MILK
Meghna Gulzar’s adaptation of Harinder Sikka’s novel, ‘Calling Sehmat’, featuring Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal, has been filmed across Nabha and Malerkotla — two historically significant towns in Punjab from the British Raj, as well as in Patiala. The unit also discovered Dodhpatri (Valley of Milk) in Kashmir’s Budgam district, where no Bollywood film has ever been shot. Dodhpatri remains inaccessible for five–six months every year because of heavy snowfall. There was no way to get to the valley till a road was built just five years ago. The Junglee Pictures and Dharma Productions’ espionage drama was filmed in a lush green meadow where wild horses and sheep graze, with picturesque hills and waterfalls in the background.


LAILA MAJNU IN CHANDANWARI
After three years of seeking permissions, Imtiaz Ali’s brother, Sajid, wrapped up ‘Laila Majnu’ in Chandanwari, close to the base camp of the Amarnath Yatra. They shot inside the dense forests 15 km away, and in the jungles of Pir Panjal; before moving towards the Zabarwan sub-mountain rang​e.


BATTI GUL METER CHALU IN TEHRI
Since January-end, Shree Narayan Singh has been shooting in the North Indian towns of Haridwar, Rishikesh, Tehri, Mussoorie and Nainital with Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, dressed in colourful prints from the region. The film highlights electricity problems for which the Tehri lake and reservoir in Uttarakhand’s Garhwal district make for an ideal backdrop. Several local temples located in the hilly regions of Tehri also feature in the social-drama.


SUPER 30 PEDALS THROUGH SAMBHAR
Vikas Bahl’s ‘Super 30’, mathematician Anand Kumar’s biopic, was filmed for 10 days in Rajasthan’s lake town of Sambhar, a few kilometres from Jaipur. Hrithik Roshan, almost unrecognisable as a Bihari papad seller, was spotted cycling through the narrow bylanes, the local market and bus depot, dodging cattle. Sambhar will be passed off as Kota in Rajasthan, a popular hub for students preparing for IIT entrance examinations, in the film.


SONCHIRIYA TAKES OFF IN CHAMBAL’S RAVINES

Set in the 1970s with Sushant Singh Rajput playing a dacoit and Bhumi Pednekar as a village belle, Abhishek Chaubey’s daku-drama, which kicked off in January and also features Manoj Bajpayee, is presently being filmed on the banks of the river Chambal in a start-to-finish three-month schedule. Months before it rolled, permission was sought to shoot near the dam and the national parks situated in the confluence of three states — Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan — across Chambal and Bundelkhand.


PALTAN BATTLES SNOW IN LADAKH
A 200-member unit of J P Dutta’s upcoming war-drama filmed at minus-20 degrees, with a 30 percent oxygen deficit, at a remote army camp two-and-a-half-hours north of the Khardung La mountainous pass in Ladakh. “We were at 15,500 feet high and freezing. We had to stand on wooden planks to prevent frost-bite. It took months to get permission to shoot where no filmmaker had ventured before and we had soldiers accompanying us,” informs Dutta’s daughter and the film’s producer, Nidhi.


NAVDEEP SINGH’S NEXT WITH SAIF IN REMOTE DESURI
The unit of this historical-drama was based in Udaipur, but Saif Ali Khan, Sonakshi Sinha and the crew took two-hour jeep rides to Desuri all of last month. This remote village in Rajasthan’s Pali District boasts of many Shiva temples and the Kumbhalgarh National Park and is spread around the Solanki Rajput fortress. Scenes were filmed there and other historical structures, now the property of Jodhpur royal Gaj Singh.


SUSHANT, SARA ON A KEDARNATH YATRA
Situated in the Garhwal Himalayan range, near River Mandakini, the temple of Kedarnath can be reached after an 18-km trek from Gaurikund. The journey has been shot by director Abhishek Kapoor at real locations, with scenic mountains and meadows, and pony and manchan services. Sushant Singh Rajput plays a pilgrim carrier and Sara Ali Khan a tourist in the film, ‘Kedarnath’.


SAHEB, BIWI AUR GANGSTER INSIDE KING GEORGE V’S HOME
Director Tigmanshu Dhulia has shot the third Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster film, featuring Sanjay Dutt, at Bikaner’s Laxmi Niwas Palace with a sequence starring the royals, a scrumptious Rajasthani spread and Russian roulette. The palace was home to King George V and Queen Mary, and the unit has shot inside the Hari Mahal and Swarna Mahal, which date back to 1904. The movie has also been filmed at Gujarat’s Santarampur and Devgadh Baria districts.


STREE WEARS THE COLOURS OF CHANDERI
Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK’s horror-comedy is currently being filmed in Chanderi, a Madhya Pradesh town, with Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao. “We literally took over the small and colourful town and were enthusiastically welcomed into the houses of the weavers and tailors. With its hills, narrow lanes, rivers and desert, Chanderi makes for spectacular visuals,” asserts Rajkummar.


LOVERATRI’S GARBA TRAIL THROUGH VADODARA
Abhiraj Minawala’s directorial debut with new faces Aayush Sharma and Warina Hussain has been shot at seven locations in and around Vadodara, including the 1557 Lehripura Gate (the western gateway to the old city), the Jhulelal Mandir and the Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with 114 monuments including the Jami Masjid. They also filmed the love story in crowded Tibetan Market in the Kala Bhavan grounds, the Ratri bazaar and the Mangal Bazaar.

DHADAK FINDS HEARTBEAT IN 16TH CENTURY AMER
Karan Johar’s Hindi remake of ‘Sairat’ kicked off in Rajasthan last December. Ishaan Khatter and Janhvi Kapoor’s romance blossomed in and around the Jagat Shiromani Temple and Panna Meena ka Kund, a step-well in Amer, a short distance from Jaipur, as they met up furtively at these 16th-century landmarks.