“ Aapne Kai Po Che dekha hain (have you seen Kai Po Che )?” the guide asks us during our heritage walk in Ahmedabad. “ Haan , yes, yes,” my husband and I nod. “See that first floor with lights... some portions of the film were shot there,” he says, pointing. We were at the Mangaldas ni Haveli, at the start of our hour-long walk. More than 200 years old, the mansion is a great starting place to discover how people in this old city of many gates lived across centuries. The Hindi cinema connection is a popular draw with visitors, prompting my husband to remark on Bollywood’s extraordinary reach. We next explore the city’s numerous pols (neighbourhoods) and end our walk at Manek Chowk, where ’90s music — Kumar Sanu and all — blares from street corners. We are pointed to a crumbling old mansion. There is garbage dumped in front, and cows forage amongst the scraps of paper and plastic. This, our guide tells us, used to be the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange. Adding, for greater effect, “ Guru film dekha hain na aapne ... (have you seen Guru )?” We are all attention now, wanting to know more about the building. It once housed the country’s second-oldest stock exchange (after Mumbai). The movie, of course, is loosely based on the life of the Gujarat-born business magnate Dhirubhai Ambani.

Hrithik Roshan is here

Travelling across Gujarat, we bump into B-town trivia time and again. Driving from Bhuj to the great white Rann of Kutch, our cab driver Sohail suddenly gets chatty. Pointing to the vast desolate landscape on our right, he informs us that further inland the film Mohenjadaro was being shot. “Hrithik Roshan aaya hai (Hrithik Roshan is here),” he says. Take us there, we ask, but he doesn’t indulge us. As though to make up, he divulges that the actor and the other film crew were staying at a hotel in Bhuj, and they drove down to this part of Kutch around 5am every day. He rattles off the names of hotels in town where we are likely to catch sight of a star or two, including Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Sohail also proudly reminds us that large parts of the Aamir Khan-blockbuster Lagaan were shot in and around Bhuj. This movie crops up repeatedly during the trip, as someone’s bound to mention it at every turn.

Song-and-dance ruins

At the 19th-century Prag Mahal in Bhuj, placards proclaim that parts of the Aishwarya Rai-Salman Khan-Ajay Devgn-starrer Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam were shot there. There is even a picture of Amitabh Bachchan, with hordes of schoolchildren milling around it. A huge vase of dried flowers, otherwise drab, is the object of everyone’s gaze. Reading out from a placard near it, teachers explain to their wards that a scene from Lagaan was canned here.

As we drive away in our cab, Sohail points to a complex of exquisitely carved pillars on a raised foundation — the Chhatedi, or tombs of Bhuj’s royalty. It’s Hum Dil De… again, this time the scene of an “Aishwarya Rai- wala ” song. We alight from the car and take a closer look at the partially damaged structure.

Hours later, entering the charming but dusty port town of Mandvi, our first stop is the imposing 20th-century summer palace Vijay Vilas. Again a favourite shooting spot, with Hum Dil De… and Lagaan references. On the wall of a passage are pictures of actors and directors on film sets. Of course, people stop and stare. Some rush to the pillared balconies and strike a pose like Aishwarya Rai!

Take that

In Vadodara, we visit the 19th-century Laxmi Vilas Palace, which is four times the size of Buckingham Palace. Large halls, stained-glass windows, ornate furniture, a massive collection of paintings... in a nutshell, all things opulent. We opt for an audio guided tour and arrive at the Durbar Hall, only to be stopped by security personnel — a shoot is in progress. We are allowed to watch from the windows. A security guard walks up to me and whispers, “ Purani actress Anita Raj pata hain aap ko (do you know the yesteryear actress Anita Raj)?” before helpfully pointing her out to me. Wires crisscross the beautiful floor and I glimpse the actress walking the length of the hall. The security guard moves closer and discloses that the shoot is for a TV serial. “Zee TV ke liye ,” he tells me. And smiles. He has just let me in on a huge secret. A special gesture for a visitor from Bengaluru.

( Savitha Karthikis a Bengaluru-based freelance journalist )

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