Written by new-contact on Feb 27, 2012. Posted in Production News

Bollywood to film Indian runner biopic on location in Melbourne

A new Bollywood feature is set to film scenes on location in Melbourne in Victoria, south-east Australia. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Run Milkha Run) will be a biopic telling the story of Milkha Singh, a famous Indian runner nicknamed 'The Flying Sikh' who competed at his first Olympics in Melbourne in 1956.

Star Bollywood filmmaker Rakeysh Mehra will spend up to three weeks in Melbourne and the shoot will feed more than AUD1 million into the local economy. An official co-production agreement between India and Victoria will see nearly a dozen Victoria representatives head to Mumbai to help arrange India-Victoria productions.

Our Government seeks to promote Victoria as a place that has the skills and infrastructure to work in film production.

Ted Baillieu, Premier of Victoria and Minister for the Arts

Ted Baillieu is Premier of Victoria and Minister for the Arts and spoke in Mumbai as part of a trade mission from the Australian state: “Our Government seeks to promote Victoria as a place that has the skills and infrastructure to work in film production, and where film producers can find a variety of people who can speak a range of languages and possess cultural understanding.

“As with other Indian films shot in Melbourne, such as Salaam Namaste and Chak de! India, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag will raise our profile in India and showcase Victoria as a great tourism destination.”

Steven Spielberg-produced TV miniseries The Pacific filmed in Victoria a few years ago and more recently the state’s hosted the Jason Statham thriller Killer Elite, which doubled the region for countries around the world. In the next few months Melbourne’s Docklands Studios are scheduled to host I, Frankenstein, a US-Australia co-production.