Darjeeling Unlimited

Before Yash Chopra discovered Switzerland and introduced us to the snow-capped Alps and the idea of romance there,with actresses dancing in pastel chiffon saris,Darjeeling’s tea gardens were the hot favourites. The last Bollywood biggies to shoot a film here were Shah Rukh Khan,who shot portions of his home production Main Hoon Na at the famous St Paul’s School in 2003,and Saif Ali Khan,who shot a song sequence for Parineeta. But then the hills became a little hostile,a little out-of-reach,because of the Gorkhaland movement. Now,thanks to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee signing an agreement with the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha to resolve the age-old Gorkhaland issue,the Queen of Hills seems to be back in action with a series of films after being abandoned by the industry for quite some time.

As for Tollywood,the industry has had a more consistent relationship with the hill station. In his 1969 film Kanchanjunga,Satyajit Ray used the hill station almost as a character. In Aparna Sen-Soumitra Chattrejee film Baksha Badal too,the hill station played a prominent part in the unfolding of the story. A few years ago,Anjan Dutt based his relationship thriller,Chowrasta ,in Darjeeling,using the scenic beauty of the place as a foil to narrate a story about love and deprivation.

Now,even Tollywood is back to romance its favourite hill station. The music launch of Anjan Dutt’s latest,Ranjana Ami aar Ashbo Na,was held there a fortnight ago. Portions of Kaushik Ganguly’s Laptop,were shot there too. “I have a personal relationship with the city. I spent my formative years here,so its natural that I keep coming back to shoot films here,” says Dutt. His enduring love affair with the hill station notwithstanding,there have been other filmmakers,who are keen to shoot their films here. Most prominently,Anurag Basu,who is planning to shoot his Ranbir Kapoor-Priyanka Chopra starrer Barfee here. “There were some minor misunderstandings during the first schedule,which is why we decided to wrap up. We will be back in September. The script demands that the film be shot here,” says Basu.

However,shooting in the hill station does come with some logistical problems,crowd management being one of them. “There is a lack of infrastructure. But that can be easily sorted out. There are a wealth of locations in and around Darjeeling which a filmmaker should explore,” says Ganguly.