Hunting foreign locations to shoot a film has been always a tough job of the directors all along. Once just crossing the border was great fun for film makers. In the 50s and 60s going to Bombay or Kashmir itself was a great achievement which could generate good publicity for the film.
The breezy entertainer ‘Then Nilavu’ was much talked for its Kashmir locations. For ‘Sabash Mapillai’ even MGR was happy to shoot in Bombay city. Until the 70s going to Kashmir or Shimla was the greatest achievement.
But when ‘Ulagam Sutrum Valiban’ came in 1973 there was a paradigm shift. Nobody until then had thought one could bring beautiful foreign countries so well in our cinema. The way the film captured the beauty of the south Asian nations and the very difficult to shoot expo in Japan is still a bench mark for shooting in foreign locales. Ironically ‘Sivantha Mann’ released in 1969 was the first major film to go exotic. It was sot in Europe but somehow the film did not create an impact as the MGR film which came four years later did. After this Singapore and Malaysia became the hot destinations of our film makers. But most of them went ‘foreign’ only for the songs sequences.
After ‘Ulagam Sutrum Valiban’ the film that captured the imagination of the viewers was ‘Priya’ in 1978. After ‘Priya’ not many Kollywood films made its foreign locations as their USPs except a few like ‘Ninaithale Inikkum’. ‘Ninaithale Inikkum’ did become a genuine film shot over seas as the entire story was happening in Singapore and so the visuals were catchy. Even some ‘bhakthi’ films like ‘Varuvan Vadivelan’ and ‘Thai Mookambikai’ rode on the foreign locations for publicity. That was a time we Indians looked at even the skyscrapers in awe.
Then after a long time director created a sort of record in going to foreign locales. Shankar’s ‘Jeans’ made a mark in 1992. Shankar’s ‘Jeans’ is a record for shooting in maximum number of foreign locations for a single film. Having the influential Hollywood producer Ashok Amritraj at the back Shankar brought the best of America in ‘Jeans’. From Las Vegas to California and the Grand Canyon in Arizona, ‘Jeans’ is one of the best films pleasing the eyes. ‘Jeans’ was also shot in locations like the Valley of Fire, Manhattan Beach, Malibu Lake, Venice Beach, New Jersey and New York World Trade Center.
The highlight of the film was picturising the wonders of the world in the song ‘Poovukkul Olinthirukkum’ which dubbed Aishwarya Rai as the eighth wonder of the world. The song featured Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Empire State Building, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, the Egyptian Pyramids, and the Eiffel Tower.
Later when film makers were trying to be different they found foreign locales may camouflage a weak script and started looking to go to a foreign location at the drop of a hat. So even if the lead characters are poor and live in a barren village fighting to survive in life they go to Switzerland to sing and dance in their dreams. European countries particularly Switzerland had enough in Tamil.
In his ‘Anniyan’ Shankar shot the song "Kumari" in the Tulip gardens in Amsterdam. In ‘Kannum Kannum Nokiya' song Shankar used Petronas Tower, Kuala Lumpur. In ‘Boys’ he used the Lavender Gardens in New Zealand for the “Ale Ale” song. By this time almost all the film makers went out of India to shoot their songs. The best one to capture the modern Malaysia is Ajith’s ‘Billa’. Malaysia never looked more beautiful than in ‘Billa’.
Now film makers are tired of Europe and South Asia. They rake their brains to find locations un-explored. They even have specialists to guide them. Susi Ganesan found Mexico to suit ‘Kanthaswamy’. The song “Mambo Mamiya” was shot in a famous bull ring in Mexico. Gautham Menon went to Malta Islands for ‘Vinnaithandi Varuvaya’. The pristine beauty of Malta is fresh. K V Anand is the new maverick director who flies more often. He shot ‘Ayan’ predominantly in both South Asia and Africa. “Nenje Nenje” song was shot in the Namib Desert in Namibia.
Of late in their search for never seen before locations China is fancied more these days. K V Anand has completed a schedule in China for his upcoming film ‘Ko’ starring Jeeva and Karthika. He is planning to go again. Action King Arjun starrer ‘Vallakottai’ is also going to the Red Land. Its director A. Venkatesh is planning a lot to do in China. ‘Vallakottai’ team wants to film a song at the colourful rally conducted during an expo every year in Beijing. Also there will be many action scenes filmed in China considering the action king plating the hero.
And the latest addition to China fans list is director A R Murugadoss. He along with Suriya-Shruthi Haasan and team will take off to China to shoot for his next film.
There are 194 recognised countries in the world today. There may be many more waiting for recognition. Our film makers will continue to strive to be the first to shoot in a never-before -gone country. And we the viewers are more than happy to watch the visuals which otherwise be missed in this life time. All said and done the beauty of a foreign locale lies in the adept handling of the script by its creative director. So always remember to take a story along with when going abroad for a film. Story is mightier than a sky scraper and lighter than your baggage.
Raavanan is a trilingual movie directed by Mani Ratnam. It has Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vikram donning the lead roles.