Ab to Banva Sajanva Hamra featuring Saira Bano and the first ever cross-border Bhojpuri film Saiyyan Chitchor are among those filmed at Rajpipla. Once a large princely state, Rajpipla is a town full of palaces and other grand buildings. The Rajwant Palace Resort in the Vijay Palace of Rajpipla is the main attraction for most shoots. Built in 1915, it has seven acres of gardens, a fine façade, antique furnished interiors, a swimming pool, and a view of banana plantations and Karjan River. The outhouses in this property often feature as post offices, police stations and panchayat offices in Bhojpuri films, The other impressive palatial buildings of Rajpipla are the Vadia Palace called Gujarat’s Taj Mahal because of its magnificent architec-
ture, the Natvar Nivas which has beautiful murals and other works of art inside, and many others. Interesting though Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster, the Bollywood thriller drama film directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia, starring Jimmy Shergill, Mahie Gill, and Randeep Hooda in lead roles, is about a royal family in Uttar Pradesh it was shot at Devgadh Baria, a princely town in eastern Gujarat with many imposing palaces and palatial public buildings.. Apart from palaces, Kutch has a wealth of architectural and natural attractions. Bollywood movies like Refugee and Border had sequences along the Rann of Kutch or Gulf of Kachch. The desert landscape of the Little Rann of Kutch has made it an extremely popular destination for advertisement films of car companies and retail clothing brands. Recently, Telugu films like the historical drama Magadheera was filmed in the spectacular desert landscape of the Little Rann of Kutch. Following this, a number of Telugu films have been filmed in Gujarat bringing popular southern stars like Mahesh Babu to resorts near the Little Rann of Kutch.
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part from the magnificent palaces and unique landscapes of Gujarat, the state’s culture has also caught the imagination of producers. Kai Po Che! is a film shot extensively in Ahmedabad, Porbandar, Vadnagar and Diu. Directed by Abhishek Kapoor and produced by UTV Spotboy, Kai Po Che! is based on Chetan Bhagat’s novel The 3 Mistakes of My Life. Three friends celebrate festivals, watching cricket matches together, strategizing on how to catch the attention of the cute neighborhood girl, being there to watch each other’s back in troubled times and to celebrate one’s successes by screaming “Kai Po Che!’’ like the people of Gujarat scream whilst celebrating the kite festival. Principal Secretary-Tourism, Vipul Mittra says, “we are committed to promote film tourism in the State in a big way. The tourism department is talking to Bollywood producers to take advantage of Gujarat’s conducive environment for film shooting by way of hospitable and cultured people, law and order, and a number of suitable locations. Film tourism is a growing phenomenon worldwide, as tourists are drawn to visit attractive destinations that appear in the movies.” Text by anil mulchandani Photographs courtesy dinesh shukla
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go now September 2012