Broadcaster and self-proclaimed “Bollywoodwalla” Ravi Sagoo is celebrating Bollywood and Indian Cinema using Scotland as a filming location backdrop with a special programme on BBC Radio 4 entitled ‘Bonnie Bollywood: 25 Years of Indian Film-making in Scotland’.
Embarking on his own filmy journey across the glitz and glamour of Bollywood, Sagoo tells the story of why the world’s biggest film industry uses Scotland and its vista as their number one location shooting hotspot outside of Mumbai’s Film City. The Indian film industry has a long tradition of location shoots, with the “go-to” location being Kashmir with its stunning mountain and lake scenery. Due to the political climate in the region, it became difficult to film in the area and too risky for the star names to visit.
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In 1998, director Karan Johar brought over an A-list cast and crew to shoot ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ to shoot in Scotland and the region came into sharp focus in Bollywood for the very first time. With its lush locations of glens, castles and lochs, Bollywood’s lavish romantic musical and action-based productions found an ideal home. Johar’s film went to become the highest grossing Indian film of 1998, thus cementing the industry’s love affair with Scotland.
Scottish locales of Tantallon Castle in North Berwick, Black Rock Cottage in Glencoe, Eilean Donan Castle in Kyle of Lochalsh and Loch Lomond have since been regularly visited by Indians following in the footsteps of their favourite stars.
In the new Radio 4 programme aired on June 2, Sagoo speaks with Bollywood experts including broadcaster Raj Dhanda and Glasgow-born Bollywood actor Feryna Wazhier – who both give insights into Scotland’s contribution as a prime filming backdrop. With now over 100 Indian films shot in Scotland across varying Indian regional languages including Hindi, Punjabi and Tamil, Sagoo also speaks with UK-based Bollywood line producers Parag Sankhe, Deeksha Bhatia (Big Elephant Productions) and Adil Khan (Scotwood Productions).
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Presenter-producer Ravi Sagoo is a regular presenter for BBC Radio Scotland across music, arts and culture strands and documentaries. He co-produced the ‘Archive on 4’ programme ‘The Great British Bhangra Explosion’ for BBC Radio 4 (April 2023) and presented ‘The Glasgow Mela 2022’ – nominated for ‘Best Music Programme’ at the Broadcast Awards 2023.