Shoot Locations Of Bollywood, Transforming Jodhpur Into Jordan!

The shoot locations of Bollywood movies ignite curiosity in everyone’s mind. Especially when they successfully manage to portray a local village as a foreign desert, a local school as a foreign museum and a lush green forest as an ancient kingdom. To feed this curiosity, here are some of the shoot locations of Bollywood movies that were enjoyed by the masses:

1. Bajirao Mastani

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s historic marvel was shot in different locations of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, primarily Jaipur. Many sequences were shot at the Amer Fort in Jaipur, including the song, Mohe Rang Do Laal.

2. Swades

Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades perfectly captured the soul of rural India and the glimpse of Indian culture and traditions. The small town of Wai in Maharashtra and the nearby village, Menawali, became the on-screen village, “Charanpur”. Swades became the first Indian film to be shot at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, the USA and the Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA, Maryland, the USA.

3. Gangs of Wasseypur

Anurag Kashyap was adamant about capturing the authenticity of Jharkhand, the local people, and their dialects in this epic movie. And so we got another of the marvellous shoot locations of Bollywood. Since Jharkhand wasn’t a feasible location, the film was shot in the villages near Bihar, and the towns of Uttar Pradesh, mainly in the area around Varanasi.

4. Lagaan

The Indian film with most British actors, Lagaan, was mainly shot in Gujarat’s Kutch district. Some parts were also shot in Vadodara. The crew searched for an appropriate location to create Champaner village in Rajasthan, Nasik and Uttar Pradesh but chose Kutch’s Kunariya village in the end. The Vijay Vilas Palace in Mandvi, Gujarat, and the Prag Mahal in Bhuj were also two prominent locations where the shooting took place.

5. Chak De! India

Chak De! India, one of the best works of Shahrukh Khan, was shot mainly in Delhi, Melbourne, and Sydney. India Gate, Purana Qila, Lodhi Gardens, and Garden of Five Senses were some of the locations in Delhi where the title song was shot. All the World Cup matches in the movie were shot at State Netball Hockey Centre in Melbourne, and the World Cup final was shot at Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney.

6. Airlift

The cinematic treat by Raja Menon was shot in UAE and India. The primary location in UAE was Ras-Al-Khaimah. The Indian sites were Ujjain, Bhuj, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur. The journey of Indians from Kuwait to Jordan airport was shot at Khabha Village and Sam Sand Dunes of Jaisalmer. The Euro School in Jodhpur was displayed as the Indian refugee camp in Kuwait. The shoot locations of Bollywood was enriched with Ras-Al-Khaimah. Here the film was shot were Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport, Shaikh Zayed Mosque, and Kuwaiti Street.

7. Kalank

Kalank, Karan Johar’s dream project, was filmed across Madhya Pradesh, Indore, Kargil, Hyderabad, Chanderi, and Mumbai. As per the reports, the makers spent a whopping ten crore to recreate a palace from the 1940s. The Chanderi Fort in Ashoknagar, Matangeshwar Ghat in Khargone, Lalbagh Palace in Indore, and Sankoo Valley in Kargil are some locations where Kalank was filmed.

8. Rockstar

This Imtiaz Ali special was filmed in Delhi, Mumbai, Dharamshala, Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Czech Republic. St Stephen’s College, Hauz Khas Complex and Hindu College were prominent locations. Dal Lake and Betaab Valley in Jammu and Kashmir were other locations. The Hawa Hawa song was shot at Sychrov Castle, Charles Bridge, Vrtba Garden and Karlstejn Castle in Czech. Kun Faya Kun filmed at Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi.

9. Dangal

Dangal, Aamir Khan’s ticket to the 1000 crore club globally, was filmed in the villages of Punjab and Haryana, including Gujjarwal, Narangwal, Kila Raipur, Dango and Leel. The movie gave various shoot locations of Bollywood. These include Symbiosis International University, Talkatora Indoor Stadium, Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Thyagraj Stadium, and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

This transformation of locations from real life to on-screen is so interesting. It is as if these shoot locations of Bollywood portrayed a character along with the actors!