The Steel City may been birthplace of many film stars like Priyanka Chopra, R Madhawan and now famous Rasika Dugal but a Bollywood movie inspired from the cosmopolitan culture of the city and being actually shot at its by lanes was a distant dream.
However, small and big banner filmmakers have started opting to position their films in small towns like Jamshedpur that we did not imagine being linked to Bollywood cinema.
The film Kizie Aur Manny, the remake of the blockbuster Hollywood romantic drama The Fault In Our Stars, has gone on floor in Jamshedpur. The film stars Sushant Singh Rajput and Sanjana Sanghi as Kizie and Manny respectively. The film was recently shot in the city under a schedule of 45 days.
Kizie Aur Manny is the directorial debut of Mukesh Chhabra, who is a renowned casting director. The director said that the versatility and cosmopolitan crowd of Jamshedpur has inspired him to take up Jamshedpur as the location for the film.
“The film was entirely being shot in the city and the very essence of life in Jamshedpur and covered on the silver screen. Sushant Singh Rajput and Sanjana Sanghi loved the city very much,” said a member of production team.
City-based film critic Arindam Ghosh said: “The small-town may have gradually become more form than content. Small town settings have changed the mindset and the landscape of Bollywood cinema. Take for example Dedh Ishqiya was shot in Lucknow. The place was perfect for capturing the Urdu dominated cultural reflections of the characters in the film,”
Famous filmmaker Vandana Kataria whose movie ‘Noblemen’ was recently screened at Loyola School said that Jamshedpur has some finest locales. She would even love to shoot her next project here in near future. “Had I been aware of such locations, I would have loved to shoot my film ‘Noblemen’ here. Jamshedpur has definitely has several locales to be covered on the screen,” she said. During her stay, she also took a tour of the city.
The Steel City was also chosen by director Vikram Aditya Motwani’s film Udaan. Produced by Anurag Kashyap, the film had Ram Kapoor and Rohit Roy in the lead roles. The entire film was shot at Hudco Park, Kaiser bungalow and Circuit House Area in Jamshedpur.
Not only mainstream Hindi cinema but the steel city is also the choice for regional cinema like Bhojpuri and Santhali. Ramesh Hansda, president of All India Santhali Film Association said that there is no dearth of locations and audience in the Steel City and films like ‘Sita Nala Re Sagun Supari’ had brought good returns too. Moreover, through films one can promote and flourish the tribal language and culture.