Indian Bond girl? Why not, says producer

Mumbai, Oct 13 (IANS) The cast and crew of latest James Bond film "Skyfall" felt it was "too ambitious" to shoot certain action sequences for the movie in India, but producer Barbara Broccoli says they haven't ruled out coming to the country for a new 007 instalment, and won't even mind roping in an Indian Bond girl in future.

"We certainly are on a lookout for talented beautiful women. If we make a film in India, we will have an Indian actress," Broccoli said during a web conference from New York with reporters here.

Directed by Sam Mendes, the latest super spy thriller "Skyfall", starring Daniel Craig, is set to release in India Nov 2. The movie features British actress Naomie Harris as the Bond girl, who is usually marked for her glamorous and sophisticated demeanour.

The choice of Bond girl for every 007 movie depends purely on the character, says Broccoli.

"Normally when we are casting for a Bond woman, our casting director looks for Bond women all around the world, and then we go through several rounds (of auditions) for that. And then finally when we reach the finalists, we bring them into Britain to meet Daniel (Daniel Craig).

"Lots of people are considered, it comes down to what the character requires and in this film ('Skyfall'), we needed a British female agent working alongside Bond," she added.

A key action sequence of "Skyfall" was due to be shot in India. The producers wanted to shoot high-speed stunts on the Indian Railways, and had requested for clearances to shoot on the rooftop of a moving train, as well as inside a tunnel. However, they faced a few stumbling blocks in getting permission due to safety and security issues, and decided to shoot elsewhere.

Broccoli says the complexity of the scenes would have made it very difficult to shoot in India.

"Typically, we do visit various countries when we are looking to find locations. So we did come to India to look (for locations). Because of the complexities with the title sequence... we did have a big chase with the cars and the motorcycle and trains.

"We looked at India as a possibility, but given the traffic, the complexities of having to shoot such a big scene, we would have had to shove off many roads and cause a lot of disruption. we felt it would be too ambitious to do the scene in India," she said.

This wouldn't have been the first instance of an India connect in a Bond film.

Parts of the 1983 Bond film "Octopussy", which featured Indian actors Kabir Bedi and Vijay Amritraj, were shot in Udaipur.

Broccoli says they would love to come back to the country for another project.

"We had a wonderful time shooting 'Octopussy' in India. We had fun and it looked absolutely beautiful on screen. We know we have a lot of fans in India so we would love to have the opportunity to come back to India as soon as possible," she said.

Click the Movie button below for more info:
Skyfall