David Dhawan’s Coolie No 1 To Be Shot In Baku

New exciting  locations are  getting more  and  more difficult to  find for  our  Bollywood  filmmakers. Gone are  the  days when all they had to do was  go to any part  of Switzerland and point  the camera at  any spot.

Nowadays  the hunt is  constantly on  for virgin  locales.

David Dhawan has zeroed in  on  Baku in Azerbaijan as his  chosen location for the remake of Coolie No 1.

Speaking  from the location he says, “You have to see this place. It is paradise  on  earth. We were invited  by  the  government  of  Azerbaijan to  visit and choose the  location and we were completely  bowled  over. Why hasn’t anyone  shot  an Indian film here before?”

Coolie No.1 will be a remake  of  David Dhawan’s  1995 superhit of  the same name where Govinda  played the  eponymous role of a railway porter who  poses as a millionaire  to marry  the heiress Karisma Kapoor.

While Varun takes over Govinda’s role, Sara Ali Khan  plays  the heiress.This  would the first film to feature  Varunand  Sara together. The female lead  was earlier earmarked  for Alia Bhatt. However  it  was  felt by  all concerned including Varun , that  the Varun-Alia  Jodi should be  kept exclusive  to producer Karan Johar’s   ‘Dulhaniya’ franchise.

Alia and  Varun have co-starred in two hit films Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya and Badrinath  Ki Dulhaniya  in  the franchise . A  third  film in the series is being planned.

 Coolie No.1   was shot in  Mumbai.  It would be interesting how writer Rumi Jaffrey takes  the plot  to  Azerbaijan.