Poland: A new destination for Bollywood

Last year many Bollywood films were shown in Polish cinema halls. Shah Rukh Khan's movies "Main Hoon Na", "Kal Ho Na Ho" and "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" were great hits and he became a big craze for young cinemagoers here.

And now Yash Raj Films, which produced hits like "Kabhi Kabhie", "Silsila", "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge", has perhaps become the first Bollywood production company to shoot on the slopes of the Tatar mountains.

They have selected a beautiful hill station, Zakopane, 400 km away from here in the south of Poland, to shoot the action scenes for the Kunal Kohli-directed "Fanaah" as the story is related to the background of Kashmir.

Aamir, Suniel and Kajol are shooting for the film and are braving a harsh winter as temperatures are around minus 10 to 14 degrees Celsius in day time and around minus 20 degrees at night.

"One Indian film star was so ignorant of Polish weather that he came in his Mumbai chappals," said Radio Zakopane on Monday.

Gutek Films, which distributed Shah Rukh's films in Poland last year, is looking after the logistics that include choppers and other aircraft.

A representative of Gutek films told IANS that "our cooperation is working well and according to the schedule".

"I am happy that an Indian film company has decided to shoot in Poland. I do hope more and more Indian film crews will come to shoot in the spring and summer months when parts of the Poland landscape is as beautiful as some parts of Switzerland," Indian Ambassador Anil Wadhwa told IANS.

The Indian community in Warsaw too is thrilled about the presence of Bollywood stars in Poland.

The president of the Indian Association, J.J. Singh, has contacted the producer so that Indians there are allowed to see the shooting Feb 11 at Zakopane.

Poland is a country with a long history of flim production and its world famous directors, Roman Polanski, Andrzej Wajda and Krzystof Zanussi all came out from the film institute at Lodz, 120 km from here.

Apart from Lodz, many other places in Poland have their own medium-size studios.

Indian actor-cum-politician Vinod Khanna had told IANS last year that Poland was a suitable destination for Bollywood filmmakers and he would persuade fellow Indian producers to shoot here.

Khanna had also visited a few production studios and felt satisfied with the quality of production and equipment.

"At the same time the cost of labour in Poland is much cheaper than anywhere in Europe," he had added.