Here’s the list of 10 famous Hollywood films that were partly or wholly filmed in India.
We often see Bollywood movies shot at various foreign locations, but India was not a popular destination for Hollywood filmmakers until in the 2000s. Indians, understandably, always take great pride in discovering that the Hollywood has included scenes from locations in India; and, also, take a keen interest in the way the country is portrayed in American films.
Here’s the list of 10 famous Hollywood films that were partly or wholly filmed in India:
Gandhi (1982)
A film about the life of Mahatma Gandhi had been Richard Attenborough’s dream project. It stars Ben Kingsley in the title role and covers Gandhi’s life from a defining moment in 1893, as he is thrown off a South African train for being in a whites-only compartment, and concludes with his assassination and funeral in 1948. The movie won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Picture for Attenborough, Best Actor for Ben Kingsley and Best Costume design for John Mollo and Bhanu Athaiya. The locations of the movie include Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi, and Udaipur.
Octopussy (1983)
Octopussy is the thirteenth movie of the James Bond series, and the sixth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Much of this movie was shot in Udaipur. In the movie, Kamal Khan, who is an exiled Afghan prince, has a palace in Rajasthan where Bond defeats him in a game of backgammon. Kabir Bedi plays the role of Khan’s aid Gobinda and famous Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj plays Bond’s MI6 ally in India named Vijay.
The Namesake (2006)
Mira Nair’s The Namesake is based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s first novel of the same name. It is about the struggles and hardships of a Bengali couple who immigrated to the United States. The movie, starring Tabu and Irrfan Khan was shot in Kolkata.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Slumdog Millionaire is set and filmed in India and is a loose adaptation of Vikas Swarup’s novel Q&A. The movie has been shots in the Juhu Slums of Mumbai and telling the story of a boy named Jamal Malik. It stars Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor, and Irrfan Khan. The movie won eight Academy Awards in 2008 including Best Film, Best Director for Danny Boyle, Best Original Score for AR Rahman.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
The fourth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series is director Brad Bird’s first live-action film. It stars Tom Cruise, who reprises his role of IMF agent Ethan Hunt, with Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Paula Patton as his supporting team. The movie had scenes in the lanes of Mumbai and also features Anil Kapoor as Brij Nath.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is based on the Novel These Foolish Things, by Deborah Moggach, and features an ensemble cast consisting of Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup and Dev Patel. The story is about a group of British pensioners moving to a retirement hotel in India, run by the young and eager Sonny, played by Patel. Most of the filming of the movie took place in the cities of Jaipur and Udaipur. Ravla Khempur, an equestrian hotel that was originally the palace of a tribal chieftain in the village of Khempur, was chosen as the site for the film hotel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDY89LYxK0w
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises has a scene in which super hero Batman, played by Christian Bale, is seen escaping from jail. Some of these were shot from Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh Fort. The film is the final installment in the Batman film trilogy and the sequel to Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008).
Life of Pi (2012)
Life of Pi is an American survival drama film based on Yann Martel’s novel of the same name. Directed by Ang Lee, the film features Suraj Sharma as the title character ‘Pi’ Patel. It also stars Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, Tabu, and Adil Hussain in the supporting roles. The movie, which won four Academy Awards, was shot in various places in India including Puducherry and Kerala.
Million Dollar Arm (2014)
This American biographical sports drama film is based on the true story of baseball pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, who were discovered by sports agent J B Bernstein after winning a reality show competition. Directed by Craig Gillespie and produced by Walt Disney Pictures, the movie was partly shot in Mumbai. Suraj Sharma and Madhur Mittal played the roles of Singh and Patel respectively while Jon Hamm portrayed J B Bernstein. The Music of the movie was composed by A R Rahman.
Lion (2016)
Lion, a biographical film directed by Garth Davis, is based on the non-fiction book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley with Larry Buttrose. The film stars Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, David Wenham, and Nicole Kidman. Principal photography of the film was in Kolkata and it includes a remake of A R Rahman’s super hit Tamil song ‘Urvasi Urvasi’.
Apart from this, 2004 American-German action spy thriller The Borne Supremacy, comedy-dramaThe Darjeeling Limited, romantic-comedy Eat Pray Love, biographical drama film on Steve Jobs titled Jobs, Juhi Chawla starred The Hundred Foot Journey, Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart, drama film based on manhunt for Osama Bin Laden Zero Dark Thirty, romantic-comedyOutsourced and the 1939 classic romantic drama were all some other movies shot in various locations in India.
However, the famous 1984 movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which features Harrison Ford reprising his role as the title character shows Kandy, Sri Lanka, as India. The film makers were denied permission to film in North India and Amer Fort due to the government finding the script offensive and demanded many changes, rewritings, and final cut privilege.