Indian Filmmakers Liked Ukraine. What Now?

Beyond the numbing number of atrocities and war crimes that the invading Russian army has already committed in Ukraine, a little-noticed effect of the aggression is that it may, at least temporarily, stop Indian movie producers from choosing the country as a filming location.

Europe is a popular destination for the Indian movie industry – not only Bollywood, but also Tollywood and Kollywood (which refer to the Hindi-, Telugu-, and Tamil-language film industries, respectively), and even some lower-budget productions, such as TV series. The specific countries chosen for filming have constantly changed over the years, in the search of new, beautiful locales. A few years ago, for example, a number of movies were shot in Poland but that phase seems to have passed.

In the last four years, a new European country has attracted attention: Ukraine. The draw of Ukraine was not only its wealth of beautiful sites but also comparatively low costs when compared to much of Europe.

A number of Indian movies and TV series have been shot in Ukraine in recent years, including “Winner,” a 2017 Telegu film; “2.0” and “Dev,” a pair of Tamil movies in 2018 and 2019; the 2021 Hindi spy series “Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story,” and the same year “99 Songs,” a Hindi film. In 2022, the recently released Telegu movie “RRR” was filmed, in part, in Ukraine and an upcoming Tamil movie, “Legend,” was also filmed in the country.

“Tiger 3,” an upcoming Hindi movie featuring well-known Bollywood stars, was reportedly partially shot in Ukraine last year, but it is difficult to confirm at the moment.

Of the above, “2.0” and “RRR” have been huge hits among Indian audiences. However, none of the abovementioned movies actually presented the Ukrainian landscape as itself; rather they made use of Ukraine in lieu of other locales. “99 Songs” is a love story involving an Indian musician in Paris. The role of the French capital was played by Lviv and Kyiv. “RRR” featured the Maryinskyi Palace in Kyiv but, as the movie was set in colonial India, the building represented a palace in Hyderabad for the sake of the story.

In “Winner,” the Ukrainian scenery in the background appeared with no relevance to the plot – this included the famous tree-lined Tunnel of Love, but the dancing heroes were simply edited into the scenery (in a very clumsy way). “2.0” was one of the costliest Indian movies made to date. One of its songs was also shot in the Tunnel of Love, as in the case of “Winner,” only this time the actors really visited the location. Yet while the actors made it to the Tunnel of Love, the song apparently did not make it to the in the final score (the Ukrainian embassy in New Delhi confirmed that a part of the movie was shot in the country, however).

Similarly, the Karpathian scenery in the Tamil movie “Dev” did not represent Ukraine in the plot. The shooting of “Legend” in Ukraine reportedly ended in December 2021, but, as the movie is forthcoming, it is hard to establish what the relevance of the scenery is, or is not, to the plot. Only the case of “Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story” was different. As a spy story, the series’ plot played out in Ukraine.

The fact that Ukraine did not “play itself” in these movies is not uncommon for Indian cinema, and did not mean that the country would not have featured in future films. From the perspective of tourism promotion, it’s of course preferable for sites to represent themselves – and be clearly identified so fans can plan to visit. But this would require an adjustment on the part of Indian filmmakers and their preferred plots.

The best-known story of this kind involves the immense popularity of an Indian love story, “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge,” a Bollywood movie that promoted an image of Switzerland as a romantic country for Indian viewers, and attracted thousands of Indian tourists to the mountainous country. A much more recent Hindi film, “Zindagi na Milegi Dobara,” reportedly led to an uptick of Indian tourist arrivals in Spain, where it was partially shot.

But the movie “Fanaa,” which was partially shot in Poland, did not translate into rising Indian interest in the country, despite being a huge Bollywood production with shining stars of the cinematic world. In the story, the Tatra mountains played the role of Kashmir. Conversely, a couple of years ago the Polish Tourism Agency convinced the producers of the Indian film “Kick” to come and shoot in Warsaw; as a result the city played itself in the movie.

The specific aesthetics of Indian movies mean that not all of the background must be coherent with the story. Dance sequences, in particular, may serve as something akin to dream scenery: The background reflects the mood and the theme of the song, not necessarily the place where the protagonists should be in terms of the story. Big-budget Indian moviemakers thus tour the world in search of new, exotic spots. It is not uncommon for such productions to move a large team to another country just to shoot a few minutes-long song. For instance, “Enthiran” had one song set in Machu Picchu in Peru (the already-mentioned film “2.0” is a stand-alone sequel to “Enthiran”).

Thus, admittedly, the recent popularity of Ukraine among Indian moviemakers was not necessarily going to lead to the country becoming a hit among Indian travelers. This will not happen until a film clearly presents Ukraine as Ukraine, and until such a film becomes a huge hit (it is also best if it is a love story, to attract target groups like couples on honeymoon). But Ukraine was drawing movie producers and accruing the economic benefits of being a filming location. This development, however, has been brutally halted by the Russian invasion.

One is left to hope that the Indian cinema industry will return to Ukraine once the war is over, as every economic gain, big or small, will be needed to reconstruct the country.