India Locations Selected

26th August 2011

The 23rd James Bond film (AKA 'Bond 23') is scheduled to include a car chase through the streets of Ahmedabad in north-west Indian province of Gujurat, as well as the previously rumoured freight-train stunts around the Sabarmati railway yard.

Director Sam Mendes and a core production team reportedly visited Ahmedabad two months ago. The area has been selected over two better-known rival locations: Goa and Mumbai.

The decision follows news earlier this week that filming permissions for the train sequence along the coastal Konkan Railway were hitting snags.

Pravesh Sahni of India Take One Productions, which is handling the logistics of the Indian leg of the Bond 23 shoot for EON Productions, told the Times of India, "We preferred Ahmedabad over Goa and Mumbai as for car chase sequence the roads were apt and the Gujarat government promised to extend all support in the first meeting itself."

"For permission to shoot an action sequence on a train at Sabarmati railway yard we are meeting union railways minister Dinesh Trivedi on Monday."

Above: Ahmedabad (highlighted) in north-west India was selected over Mumbai - the home of Bollywood, and the resort city of Goa.

Senior western railways officials at Ahmedabad confirmed to the paper that a team from the production had come to Ahmedabad twice in the last two months and visited the Sabarmati railway yard.

Above: The Sabarmati railway station in Ahmedabad.

India Take One Productions also confirmed that they have received the green light to shoot the stunt sequence at the Sabarmati railway yard, but permission to stop freight trains from using the busy track for several hours a day on a five-day shoot was taking time to finalise. The shoot had originally been planned for October or November this year, but has now been shifted to January or February 2012 in order for the railway ministry to grant the neccessary permissions.

"We already have permission from Gujarat government to shoot chase sequences on road and are hopeful that will get a go-ahead will railways ministry as well. 'Bond 23' is an important project for India which is attracting Hollywood filmmakers and we are doing everything to put things in place," added Sahni.

Dinesh Trivedi, the railway minister from Calcutta who confesses he is a Bond fan, will meet the team on Monday. "I received a request from the unit members today and have called them for a meeting on Monday. I will be pro-active to sort out the problem,” Trivedi told The Telegraph from New Delhi. "I’ll have to find out about the problems. It will be solved but I’ll ensure that passenger safety is not compromised,” he said. “We all love Bond movies and it’ll be good publicity for India and the Indian Railways," the minister added.

A production member who wished to remain anonymous said, "The initial talks with the minister were satisfactory and he seemed keen to remove the bottlenecks. We expect [formal production planning] to get rolling by the middle of next week.". After Trivedi’s intervention, things looked positive, he admitted.

Above: A freight train enters the Sabarmati railway yard, where Bond 23 will be shooting stunts if final permissions are granted on Monday.

MI6 understands that South Africa still remains a shooting location regardless of whether the train sequence is completed in India as first planned. China is also still in consideration for other sequences. The production will be based out of James Bond's traditional home - Pinewood Studios - where filming on the sound stages is scheduled to start in November. The production budget is rumoured to be $135 million. The film, which will be Daniel Craig's third outing as 007, will open in the UK on 26th October 2012.