Goa shines bright on Bollywood film shoot map

Panaji: Goa is increasingly becoming a preferred movie shooting destination for Bollywood and regional filmmakers, who are making a beeline to capture the sun and sand in this beach heaven.

With the number of film shootings crossing the 100-mark till August this year, as against 80 in the previous two years, it’s evident that filmmakers are flocking the tourist state for more with every passing season. Many successful films like Mohit Suri`s `Ashiqui 2` besides upcoming releases including Rohit Shetty`s `Chennai Express` and Milan Luthria`s `Once Upon a time in Mumbai Dobaara` have been partially shot in Goa. The records available with Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), a state government body dealing with the permissions for film shootings, show that even tele-serials and reality shows are stepping into the scene. In the beginning of 2013, Shahrukh Khan-Deepika Padukone starrer `Chennai Express` was shot in Goa, and ESG records indicate the shooting was happening in the state as recent as till May this year. Vikram Bhatt`s `Hate Story 2` was also shot in Goa extensively at different locations on various dates. Sunny Leone and Tamil actor Bharat aka Bharath Niwas` flick `Jackpot` is also being shot in Goa and the schedule is likely to continue even this month (August). Abbas Tyrewala`s romantic comedy film `Mango` is also shot on the streets of Panaji. The shoot hit a controversy earlier this month when bouncers hired by the makers manhandled social activist Dr Oscar Rebello for allegedly disturbing a shot. The shooting had to be abandoned for a day after local civic body, Corporation of City of Panaji, revoked the shooting permission. Zombie comedy `Go Goa Gone` was also shot on the state`s beaches. Bhatt camp`s `Murder-3` also had the beach state as its backdrop in many scenes. In 2011, Goa prominently featured in movies like Rohit Shetty`s `Singham` and Maneesh Sharma`s `Ladies vs Ricky Bahl`. The Dona Paula jetty located here, which shot to fame during `Ek Duje Ke Liye` (1981) when Kamal Hassan jumped into the sea, was once again on the silver screen in a scene showing Ajay Devgn bashing up goons in `Singham`. The ESG records indicate that Hollywood filmmakers have shown no interest in Goa as the shooting location. But the regional film industry is expansively using Goa for the shootings. In last three years, the state had Aathibhagavan (Tamil), Teenage (Kanada), Ishq (Telugu), Violin (Malayalam), Darling (Bengali), Billa 2 (Tamil), Andhar Baahar (Kanada) being shot in Goa along with hoardes of Marathi and local Konkani films. Popular television serials like CID and others besides reality shows are also shot in Goa. PTI