Thursday, September 04, 2014

Bollywood by the Sea

The striking coastline of Saltburn provided the backdrop as a touch of Bollywood glamour came to Teesside.

The cast and crew of Shaandaar, a new Bollywood movie currently in production, chose Saltburn’s beach, promenade and famous pier as a location to shoot yesterday.







Billed as a comedy which sees two Indian families coming together for a big wedding, the film features Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor.

Assistant director Karl Hall said that the coast was the perfect place to shoot footage.

“We are mainly doing establishing shots and cutaways, but we have the main characters here as well and we’re doing some dialogue,” he said.

“We are splitting the shooting between England, Mumbai and Poland and a lot of the English scenes have been done in Leeds and West Yorkshire.

“When we needed to find a coastal location, Saltburn had been recommended and it was a great choice. It looks great on camera.”

The film will be primarily aimed at the Asian market, but Mr Hall said that Bollywood releases are also huge in Britain.

“It goes under the radar a little bit in the UK, but it is a huge industry," he added. "Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapoor are really big stars.”

Around 80 to 90 members of the cast and crew spent yesterday in Saltburn and some local flavour was added to the filming. Mr Hall said: “I’m not sure how many extras we had, but I’m sure that some of them were local.”

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