The ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) is not only attracting devotees and spiritual tourists, but also filmmakers, who are going all out to capture the grandeur of the unique congregation for their projects.

While filmmaker Bharat Bala is currently shooting his film Khoj with actors Abhishek Banerjee, Shahana Goswami and Neeraj Kabi, Telugu director Boyapati Srinu has already shot portions of the Nandamuri Balakrishna-starrer, Akhanda 2 — Thaandavam.

Actor Sanjay Mishra shot a campaign film for Uttar Pradesh Police on cybercrime, and French filmmaker Bruno Aveillan also visited the Maha Kumbh to shoot for a project. Several documentaries are being filmed at the event as well.

Rati Shankar Tripathi, a line producer for Khoj, tells us, “Bala is in Prayagraj since January 27. First, he shot for another documentary and then we started the film. The film’s title is apt as it’s about a search. We are shooting with small and big cameras without disturbing the public movement.”

Line producer duo Niraj Tripathi, who has worked on Akhanda 2, shares, “We had all the permissions in place and shot in gorilla mode to not disturb people. We filmed at the tents, akharas, near the Sangam and other parts of the city.”

Despite the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, 2021 turned out to be quite a star-studded year for Uttar Pradesh in terms of film, web and TV serial shoots. From Saif Ali Khan to Kangana Ranaut, A-listers have been shooting in the state at different times during the year, especially from May onwards. However, recently, owing to the rising Coronavirus cases in the state, most shoots have either been cancelled or postponed. Line producers say the night curfew is also making producers shy away from coming to UP to shoot.

Last year, films, television and web series were shot across the state. This year, too, seemed to hold a lot of promise with several big projects lined up to be shot in the state. Among the actors who were expected in UP were Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor, Huma Qureshi, Kunal Kemmu and Shivin Narang.

The shooting of Huma Qureshi-starrer web series, Maharani (below), which was supposed to begin from the first week of January has been put on hold for now. Aroon Singh Dicky, a line producer in Lucknow, says, “The shoot was supposed to go on floors on January 6 in Lucknow, but we are now hearing that the team is wrapping up shoot in Bhopal itself.”

“In Varanasi also, the shoot of three web series and the film Hari Up was to begin in the coming days, but all of them have either cancelled or postponed their plans,” informs Rati Shankar Tripathi, an actor and line producer.

Other reasons why filmmakers are shying away from shooting in UP at the moment is the night curfew and the upcoming Assembly elections. “Recently, we had to wrap up the shooting by 10:30pm,” Dicky informs.

According to Rati Shankar Tripathi, “The remaining part of the Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt-starrer Brahmastra was slated to be filmed in Varanasi in December last year, but it was shifted to January due to the rising cases in Mumbai. And now, the shooting has been indefinitely postponed.”

In Kanpur, too, several projects were lined up for the year, but they have been put on hold for now. Line producer Shaan Khan, who was preparing for the shoot of film Akbar in Kanpur, informs, “Ikram Akhtar’s film Akbar, which is the sequel of film Baabarr was supposed to be shot in January this year. The film features actor Ashmit Patel, Shahbaz Khan and Ankita Srivastava, but due to rising cases, the producers have postponed the shoot.”

Mohammad Rizwaan, another line producer from Kanpur, tells us, “The increase in COVID cases has affected the shoot schedule of film, TV and web series in Kanpur. There was an unnamed film of Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor that was supposed to be shot at IIT Kanpur from January 17, but has now been postponed.”

Similarly in Noida and Agra also, film and web series projects that were supposed to take off this month, have been put on the backburner. Arvind Rajpurohit, a line producer in Mumbai, says, “A few web series which were slated to begin shoot in UP in Noida, Ghaziabad and Agra this month have been postponed to March now.”

— With inputs from Meera Vohra and Sumit Jha

- Ranbir-Alia film Brahmastra

- An untitled Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor starrer

- A film of Sonakshi Sinha

- Sunny Deol’s Gadar 2

- Hari Up

- Web series Maharani 2