Bolly stars to shine in Darjeeling

 DARJEELING: After a wait of over six years, Bollywood is back in Darjeeling once again. Come June 15, Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and a host of Bollywood stars will start shooting for Anurag Basu-directed film, Barfee. The last major Hindi flick that was shot in Darjeeling was Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Main Hoon Na, back in 2004. 
For the hills, the big banner film has come as a boost as it had had to deal with political disturbances for the last four years. "A big budget film with famous stars will definitely boost tourism in the hills," said Paras Dahal, manager of a hotel where the film`s crews will stay put. The shooting for the romantic-murder mystery will continue till the end of the month. There will be a monsoon break after which the shooting will resume from August-end. "Shooting will most probably start from mid-June with a break in between because of the rainy season," said Uday Mani Pradhan, the local production coordinator. TNN

The record-breaking film, 3 Idiots, was also to be shot in Darjeeling. But the film`s unit backed off at the last minute with the political scenario worsening in the hills. "We lost out and Ooty took benefit. The production team of 3 Idiots had come for a recce and had stayed at our hotel. But they backed off at the last minute due to political unrest," said an hotelier.

Barfee will be shot extensively in Darjeeling and Kalimpong. Basu had visited the two locales for three months before giving the green signal. "Yes, the director of the film had been in Darjeeling several times. He chose Darjeeling and Kalimpong for the shooting," said the production coordinator.

Ranbir and Basu are expected to come to Darjeeling on Saturday with other crew members. Priyanka and Ileana D`cruz, the other leading lady of the film, will come later. Ranbir will stay in Darjeeling till the month end.
 >>TOI