Rajinikanth’s ‘Enthiran’ to Suriya’s ‘Ayan’: Tamil movies shot in exotic locations

Like Bollywood, Tamil cinema, too, has evolved with time and has started shooting its films in foreign locations. Places like London, New York, Switzerland and Australia have been a huge part of Kollywood movies in the past few years, with at least a song or two being shot in some scenic locale. However, as time goes on, filmmakers are getting more adventurous and have started shooting in more exotic locations. So here is a look at places which could become the next shooting hotspot for Kollywood…

Peru

Shankar, who is a pioneer when it comes to exploring new places, broke the ice for Tamil cinema with the mystic country of Peru. While shooting for Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s ‘Enthiran,’ the film team flew to Peru to shoot a song at Machu Pichu, one of the most famous world heritage sites. The song ‘Kilimanjaro’ was extensively shot there and became a major talking point about the movie. For the sequel ‘2.O’ as well, the team had planned to shoot in Bolivia, but that plan fell through due to bad weather conditions. Then Shankar and crew chose Morocco and when that also didn’t happen, they finally went to Ukraine. Nevertheless, it is certain that Shankar will continue to enthrall the audience with exotic locales.

(Image courtesy - YouTube)

Bulgaria

While Bulgaria has become a bit of a hotspot for Bollywood, Tamil cinema is only beginning to explore the beautiful Eastern European nation. The shooting for Ajith Kumar’s upcoming spy thriller ‘Thala 57’ will take place extensively in Bulgaria. Already a good deal of the movie has been shot there and the team will fly back again to Europe for the remaining portions of the film. ‘Thala 57’ is going to be one of the few Tamil films that will be shot widely across Europe. Thanks to the new locale, there is already crazy hype surrounding the Ajith and Kajal Aggarwal-starrer.

(Image Source- BCCL)

China

The mystic land of China still remains largely unexplored even though directors flock to Japan. But Shankar put an end to that with the Vikram starrer ‘I’. The main cast and crew flew to China for a schedule of almost 50 days which involved a fight sequence and a couple of songs. The romantic track ‘Pookkalae Sattru Oyivedungal’ was mainly filmed in the Red Sea beach in Panjin and on Li river in Guilin. With an overwhelming variety of landscapes, the entire shooting took place in the Hunan province and showed the Indian audience the breathtaking beauty of China.

(Image Source - YouTube)

Namibia

The 2008 Suriya starrer ‘Ayan’ was shot extensively in Africa, covering many countries like Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zanzibar. But the most picturesque moment of the film has to be song ‘Nenje Nenje’ which was shot on the Namibia-Botswana border. With desert on one end and open ocean on the other, it was a sight to behold. Surprisingly the song that was shot in sub-zero temperatures, looked quite sunny on screen. This movie showed Kollywood an ethereal location which very few have explored in Indian cinema.

(Image Source - YouTube)

Norway

‘KO’ became a landmark film for Tamil cinema as it became the first movie to be shot in Norway. A few parts of some songs from the movie were shot in different parts of the Scandinavian country. Couple of these were world heritage sights such as Bergen Harbour and Stalheim near Nareoyfjord. Other than these two locations, the KV Anand film was also shot in Trolltunga and Prekestolen. So, it is not just Shankar, many other filmmakers are also looking to give unique visual experiences to the fans in the form of such exotic locations.

(Image Source - YouTube)