Bombay to Bangkok

From lights, camera to even the action now has moved from Mumbai to Bangkok. Bollywood’s getting drawn towards the land of the golden temples.

The already busy tourist destination is now having an added attraction in the form of our Bollywood stars. Filmmakers are flying their cast and crew to the city to shoot their films and their tourism ministry is not complaining either.

Apparently at present, there are about four Hindi films and a Bhojpuri film being shot there. Right from Chandni Chowk to China starring Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone, De Talli featuring Aftab Shivdasani, Ayesha Takia and Riteish Deshmukh, Loot starring Mimoh, Govinda, Suniel Shetty to Jai Veeru starring Fardeen Khan and Kunal Khemu, all of them are busy delivering their dialogues and dancing on the streets of Bangkok.

And coincidentally, they are all huddled up in the same hotels too. Akshay Kumar, who is emotionally attached to this place where he learned martial arts and worked as a chef, thought it was wise to shoot some scenes in Bangkok instead of China where they were reportedly facing some problems. He keeps shuttling between the two places. “Since the Chinese and the people of Bangkok have similar features, it’s easier to portray Bangkok as China,” says a source about why Chandni Chowk to China is being partly shot in Bangkok.

Mithun Da’s son Mimoh too has been busy showing his dancing moves to the people of Bangkok and that was precisely the reason why he couldn’t be present for the music release of his film Jimmy in Mumbai. Kunal Khemu after recuperating in a hospital in Mumbai, where he was admitted after he fell ill on the sets of Goa, flew straight to Bangkok to shoot a song sequence with the other stars of the film. His leading actress Anjana Sukhani has also packed bags to join her hero there.

It could be well said that it was the Bhatts who introduced Bangkok to Bollywood, as most of their films were extensively shot there. Mukesh Bhatt cites reasons why Bangkok is drawing in our filmi crowds: “It’s economically viable.

currency is almost equivalent to that of the rupee and Bangkok has it’s own film industry which makes things easier for us filmmakers.” According to him, the place also has a film culture. “They have good studios so you can get special effects, action coordination etc done there itself,” says the filmmaker and adds, “Besides the fare from Mumbai to Bangkok is cheaper than the fare from Mumbai to Delhi!” Perhaps that’s the reason why Nagesh Kukunoor thought of making Bombay to Bangkok!

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com