DELHI
Has a single vacation in the country ever been complete without that filled-with-pride moment? “ Madam, idhar Bollywood star log aaya tha. XYZ ki shooting idhar hi hui thi ! (Bollywood stars were here, madam. XYZ film was shot right here),” offers some guide/taxi driver/enthusiastic local without fail. So tremendous is this filmi connect with travel that the most reputed travel information provider globally, Lonely Planet, has launched a never-before guide in India — inspired by Indian cinema. Besides offering specialist information on hotels, transport, food and sightseeing, Filmi Escapes – Travel with the Movies is accompanied by interesting film anecdotes, trivia and images.
Freelance writer Juhi Saklani, (who has been a travel writer for approximately eight years), has been assisted by the Lonely Planet team on this project. A travel enthusiast who keeps returning to Ladakh, Juhi says that the structure of the book and the choice of giving prominence to one place compared to another was planned in the details, and was yet quite spontaneous. “Since this was a first-of-its-kind experiment, we chose to stick to places that were by and large well-known destinations. We followed a simple north to south pattern in the chapterisation. The film/period choices were, I’m sure, dictated in equal part by my personal preferences as a life-long lover of films (so, the songs of Garam Hawa had to make an appearance). Plus, there was the need to include some films that, by popular consensus, had reached an iconic status ( Mughal-e-Azam ), and to keep a healthy share of Shah Rukh or Aamir to appeal to the audience/traveller. Also, there was simply the fact that, when you have generally fixed a destination, films choose themselves. For example, a chapter on Ladakh would automatically mean we discuss 3 Idiots .”
Full report here Hindu
