While Bollywood remains to have a good mix of big-moolah films and those made on a shoestring budget, Kareena Kapoor's next film with Hrithik Roshan could break the record. Insiders say Karan Malhotra's film will have a whopping budget of Rs 150 crore and the director has chosen Bhopal as one of the settings for the film.
Till date, Blue, the underwater thriller director by Anthony D'Souza and Shah Rukh Khan's RA.One were the costliest Bollywood films ever at R100 crore each. After two of his previous visits to Bhopal didn't work out, Malhotra finally managed to make a trip to the City of Lakes.
Sources say the director did a recce of Old Bhopal and some other crowded places in the newer parts of the city, including Sadar Manzil and New Market. Currently, Malhotra is in Hyderabad to explore possibilities of shooting there.
Says a source, `Karan has finalised some locations in Bhopal. The buzz is that they will start shooting in Bhopal in December as they will not get the required permissions to shoot before the elections. The schedule will last for 20 to 25 days.` Says the director, `We are trying to make a nice dramatic film but yes for sure it will be big. The costs and budgets depends upon the production house. We will try to make the movie with the best possible resources available.`