Jagga Jasoos dropped Manipur as shoot locale

There is a common perception amongst a lot of people these days and that is not to completely trust the Governments and Bollywood these days.A glaring example is the fan fare with what the state and tinsel town came together to announce the launch of a hyped movie to promote the state of Manipur.

Jagga Jasoos, an upcoming Bollywood film starring Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif is in the news again … announcements of a release date (slated next year) by the producer, clarifications by the director on why the film was delayed with specific stress laid on the fact that the break-up of the stars had nothing to do with it and the 2 stars proving to the world that they are true professionals who continue to work together and promote the film, despite the break-up is what is doing the rounds.

Nobody would have even noticed that Manipur, an initial shoot location for the big budget film was quietly dropped.

When Jagga Jasoos was announced in 2014 it was announced that the first schedule was to be shot at Cape Town in South Africa the remaining portions of the film will be shot in Mumbai followed by Manipur and Thailand. Incidentally, this was to be the first time that a Bollywood movie has been given a nod by the local authorities to shoot in Manipur. The makers received the permission after struggling for over a year.

In fact director Anurag Basu even went on to say that "Shooting in the jungles of at Manipur will be grueling considering there are no luxurious resorts there. It's going to be tough for everybody."

This came immediately after the release of "Mary Kom" which though was based on a boxer from Manipur, was never shot in Manipur.

The sentiment is Manipur and the rest of the Northeast was that despite Mary Kom being from the region the producers preferred Priyanka Chopra and even the shooting of the film was done in Dharamsala , Himachal instead of Imphal.

Jagga Jasoos was supposed to be a healing balm to the people of the Northeast .

After shooting in Cape Town and Thailand, shooting shifted to Darjeeling from 20 April 2016 onward. Manipur was quietly dropped as a location.

Has Manipur and therefore, the Northeast lost once again because of it's political and civil unrest? Exposure via a big Bollywood budget film would mean boost to tourism, boost to economy and definitely a boost to reduce the gap between mainland India and the Northeast.

Or perhaps even better still does Darjeeling constitute northeast of the producers of Jagga Jasoos.

(TNT Desk)