Over the past few years an increasing amount of Bollywood feature films have been shot in Britain.

Scotland, particularly, has been the favoured location. But not any more it seems, because, in the last eighteen months or so, the Highlands and Islands have gone quiet, too quiet.

After a decade that saw no less than 20 films shot amongst the bonny braes, the lochs and the castles, with an astonishing nine flicks made there in 2000 alone, now there are none.

So, what has gone wrong, is it just a case of fashion, of the caravan moving on? Belle Doyle, location department manager for Scottish screen, has part of the answer: "Scotland was needed for mountains when Kashmir was closed, but now that it has opened again, crews can film there instead. We are getting enquiries all the time but we cannot force them to come here".

In fact, hit Indian films such as "Dil Hai Hindustani" and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" contain scenes that were filmed in Scotland when the Kashmir troubles were at their height, and some of Bollywood's biggest stars, like Aishwarya Rai, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Suniel Shetty and Arjun Rampal have all been to Scotland to shoot dance sequences there.

But there is probably a stronger reason for the departure of the Indian movie circus - money. Whether it be Hollywood or Bollywood, producers are a hard nosed lot and the bottom line is all that really matters.

So, with countries like those in Eastern Europe opening up as location hotspots and with the low wages of the locals and the tax breaks, well, that's quite a temptation. And, after all, even the latest James Bond flick has succumbed to that particular lure.

Ireland, too, is looking to host foreign movies. The place even managed to tempt Mel Gibson to shoot "Braveheart" there and that was about a Scottish hero, William Wallace! Now, the country's Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern, has visited India to encourage film making in Ireland.

As Louise Ryan of the Irish Film Board told the Eastern Eye newspaper: "Indian film makers are beginning to choose Ireland as a film location because of the competitiveness of Irish film companies that are servicing Indian film production. Our rural locations and our stock of big period country houses in particular are very popular".

So, it seems that Scotland must buck up its ideas; as Prakash Bakrania, executive manager for Yash Raj films said: "Scotland needs to sell, sell, sell. They can't afford to rest on their laurels".

Scotland, no doubt, is paying heed to such advice, so it probably won't be too long before the hills are alive once more to the sound of playback.