Glamour quotient of Bhopal goes up as actors flock to city

Leading the star pack was Amitabh Bachchan who spent a lot of time this year in the city to shoot for film-maker Prakash Jha's venture 'Aarakshan'.

Besides Amitabh, actors like Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone also had come to the city for the shoot.

Before 'Aarakshan', Jha had shot his earlier film 'Rajneeti' also in Bhopal which had starred the likes of Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal and Manoj Bajpai.
The trend began in 2007 when Suraj Barjatya shot 'Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi' starring Sunil Sood and Isha Koppikar in Bhopal.

Aamir Khan's film 'Peepli live' was also shot here adding to the popularity of the city as a locale for film shootings.

Jha, who seems to have fallen in love with Bhopal is now planing to shoot his next film here. Although Jha is not willing to disclose what the film is about, the shooting is expected to start early next year.

Rumi Jaffrey, a script writer who took to direction with the film 'God Tussi Great Ho' will also be shooting his next film 'Gali Gali Mein Chor Hain' in Bhopal from next month.

Rumi's film, a political satire, will have a 50-day schedule with Akshay Khanna and Ayesha Takia in lead roles.

The film maker who is himself a Bhopali says that more than half of the cast of the film would be from the city.

Noted filmmaker Muzzafar Ali also plans to shoot a film soon in the city after finishing work on some other projects. He said the proposed film would make an attempt to flesh out the culture of Bhopal and show the free spirit of Bhopalis and their humourous way of looking at life