With the nation gradually opening up amid the Coronavirus pandemic, several filmmakers are eyeing hill stations for shooting. It seems that the hills have become a safe haven for B-Towners. Among the first few to resume the shoot, Shahid Kapoor has already wrapped up Jersey’s Dehradun schedule. Priyadarshan’s Hungama 2, starring Shilpa Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Meezaan Jaffery and Pranitha Subhash, is being shot in Manali. While Himachal Pradesh is now granting film shoot permits, Uttarakhand, which allowed film shoots in June, has seen higher numbers.

Officials from the Uttarakhand Film Development Council say they have seen a confident return of filming in Uttarakhand in the last couple of months. K S Chauhan, Nodal officer, Film Facilitation Office, Uttarakhand, says, “From the end of June till now, we have given permissions for over 50 shootings, which includes films, web series, video songs and so on. Almost every day, I get three to four queries from big production houses for permission. They want to know if it’s safe to film in Uttarakhand or not, and we are assuring them that they can visit and shoot with all safety measures in place.”

Last month Sanjay Mishra shot for a film at Garhi Cantt and Shakti Kapoor shot for The Dark Jungle in Mussoorie, Maldevta and Dehradun. Sources say as schools in Dehradun are closed, production houses are even getting to shoot there, something which didn’t happen often earlier. Rati Shankar, a line producer, says, “From web series to films, everyone is coming to the hills for shooting — be it Himachal or Uttarakhand. Due to these film shoots, technical staff members who had left during the lockdown have also come back and joined their crews. Currently, we are handling two projects — one is a web series and the other project is a movie, which needs to be shot higher in the mountains. We are finalising a location for it.”

In the pre-COVID days, actors used to stay at hotels, but now private properties are being booked to minimise exposure. Mayank Tiwari, a line producer says, “For instance, Shahid Kapoor, who is currently shooting for Jersey in Dehradun, is staying at a private resort. Similarly, there are hotels for crew members, where no outsiders are allowed and it is fully booked for the crew.” Nitin Pundir, another line producer, adds, “We are renting resorts for 25-26 days. This is the most prominent change that we have noticed during the current shoots as stars are trying to avoid exposure as much as possible.”