TV goes places
Gone are the days when a Hindi television soap would only be shot within the confines of an indoor set at a popular Mumbai studio. Now, an increasing number of television producers are weaving different locations into their scripts in a bid to dish out a novel experience for the viewer. Zee TV's latest offering, Rab Se Sona Isshq, a cross-continental love story from Punjab to London, is currently being shot in the posh locations of London. While the crew completed a 20-day schedule in the green fields of Patiala, they will be stationed in London for three whole months. Says producer Kinnari Mehtaa of Jay Mehtaa productions, "As it is a love story, we wanted to give it Yash Raj-Karan Johar type of backdrop. As a result, we chose to shoot it in London."
And Rab Se Sona Isshq is not the only one. The crew of Diya Aur Baati Hum has just returned from a 10-day shoot in Singapore which plays an integral part in the script. "In Diya Aur Baati Hum, so far, we have shown the silent love of Sooraj (Anas Rashid) for Sandhya (Deepika Singh). Their love has now matured and reached a point where it's Sandhya's turn to give her best to this man in life and that is how a trip to Singapore comes in the story line," says Sumeet Mittal, the director-producer of the show, which airs on Star Plus.
"Earlier, the actors would establish their locations through dialogues. But today, the teams actually travel to those locations to shoot their serials," says Ila Bedi Datta whose television show Hitler Didi was shot in Macau in December. She is also in the process of writing soaps which are likely to be shot in Vancouver and Hyderabad that will represent Pakistan in the serial. While Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Tanwar went on their honeymoon to Sydney, the actors will soon head to Dubai to shoot another important sequence for Bade Achhe Lagte Hain.
Depending on their stories, many producers are also looking at options within the country for their shoots. Producer Bhairavi Raichura chose snow-clad Ooty for the honeymoon sequence of the thriller Chhal... Sheh Aur Maat, the first schedule of Madhubala — a story of an
actress's journey in showbiz — was shot in Hyderabad. Sony shows Adalat and CID have also been shot in Delhi and Goa respectively, whereas the cast of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah visited Kutch.
But outstation shoots are no cakewalk. "While shooting Hitler Didi in Delhi, we hired a lot of local talent including the cameramen, lightmen as well as local artistes as we needed a strong Delhi flavor," says Datta. Rab Se Sona Isshq producer says, "Shooting a serial at an outdoor location is actually more difficult than making a film as we will be telecasting it simultaneously."
The budgets of a serial also vary according to the locations. "When shooting outstation, the budgets go up by 40-50 per cent, depending on the location," says Mehta. Though, sometimes, shooting outside Mumbai might prove beneficial to producers like it did to Raichura. "The cost of shooting in a five star in Ooty was far lesser than what it would have been if we had shot at a five-star hotel here," she says. The main reason for a variety of serials being shot outside Mumbai is the broadcasters' willingness to shell out extra bucks. Sukesh Motwani, fiction programming head, Zee TV, says, "We don't mind spending extra money on the shoot if the location is critical to the story and leads to an exciting visual experience. In fact, producing reality shows is sometimes more expensive than shooting a serial out of this city!"
