Tollywoods obsession with foreign locales

Hyderabad: Telugu directors, in particular, are eying remote locales across the world to add a slice of never-before-seen glitz to their films. The farther they go, the better it gets captured, it seems. Call it a bonus, some of the countries are wooing the industry with sops and infrastructure ' a move clearly aimed at promoting tourism sector. Hence, it becomes a low-cost affair too.

Of late, Thailand and Malaysia have emerged as the most popular international destinations for Telugu films. Puri Jagannadh's obsession with the South East Asian country took the viewers to places like Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In fact, at least a song/scene from his films, be it Pokiri, Chiruta or Ek Niranjan, has been shot in Thailand. Malaysia is another popular South-East Asian destination.

Films like Billa, Kick, Prayanam and Golimaar were shot in various locations across Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Langkawi. Singapore, in fact, is on a mission to promote itself as filmmakers' first choice. The city-state had set up a $10 million fund, courting Indian directors to shoot their films. Venkatesh's Jayam Mandhera and Nagarjuna's Manmadhudu were shot across France, Germany and the UK.

The last few years also saw the deserts of Rajasthan getting overshadowed by Dubai, Oman, Jordan and Turkey. Turkey has given serious competition to the rest of Europe to capture the market share. Pourudu, Guru, Brindavanam and Chandramukhi were shot in places like Pamukkale, Cappadocia, Ephesus and Istanbul.

The African continent is not sitting idle either. Egypt and South Africa are popular when it comes to tourism and films. A song in NTR's Kantri was shot in Muizenberg Beach, Cape Town, South Africa. Tamil filmmaker K V Anand explored the African continent with his film Ayan (dubbed in Telugu as Veedokkade). The Suriya-starrer was canned in stunning locales like the Skeleton Coast and Dead Vlei in Namibia, Zanzibar, Botswana and South Africa. K S Ravikumar became the first Indian filmmaker to shoot a song sequence in J'kuls'rl'n Glacial Lakes, Iceland, for his film Aadhavan, dubbed in Telugu as Ghatikudu.

Ravi Teja's Don Seenu was shot in Barcelona, Spain. Another upcoming film, directed by Ajay Bhuyan with Naga Chaitanya and Kajal Agarwal in the lead, has been shot in Philippines. Shooting abroad has also brought some pleasant experiences as seen in the case of Kedi and Orange. Kedi, filmed in Greece, created a buzz as Nagarjuna was honoured by the Greek government for choosing their country for the shoot.

Orange was shot in Melbourne when the India-Australia bilateral relations hit an all-time low, following allegations of racial abuse against Indians. But that did not deter the Australian authorities from extending the crew full support. No wonder, its lead actors Ram Charan and Genelia were seen raving about the hospitality. NTR's Shakti was shot in Egypt and Rana Daggubati's upcoming film Nenu Naa Rakshasi was filmed in Venice.

Actors love explorations says Rana, 'Exploring foreign locations for film shoots has been Telugu cinema's USP for many years. Besides providing visual grandeur, foreign locations also help reduce costs to a major extent. Location permits are easy to acquire, local governments are happy to promote tourism, and the cast and crew are few and able to work with much more freedom. We shot in Venice recently and it was an amazing experience to shoot in a city that's structured on water.'

Actor Venkatesh agrees, 'It's great to shoot abroad. We are now opening up to new places. It's a treat for our audience to see picturesque locales.' Shooting a film abroad has its advantages. First, it's cheaper to shoot in a foreign country than in India. The crew size is cut to size by almost 50%. The cast and crew work hard to finish schedules in time. Apart from this, the governments offer subsidies and sops.

Cinematographer Vijay K Chakravarthi, who worked on films like Bommarillu, Parugu, Konchem Ishtam Konhcem Kashtam and Mr. Perfect, says, 'It's challenging to shoot at unexplored locales and expressive landscapes. Surely, it's a treat for movie-goers. Foreign shoots are usually done for enhancing the audience excitement.'

Director Sreenu Vytla of Venky, Dubai Seenu and Dhee, says, 'It's always good to show different locations to our audience. Since days are longer abroad, our working hours are more. This helps a lot. Also the cost goes down as the unit size is reduced drastically.' Last year, Shankar took us to Latin America, to shoot Robot. Next one? Antartica? We are waiting.