India Plans Confirmed

29th July 2011

After 28 years since "Octopussy", 007 will be heading back to India if pre-production plans for the 23rd James Bond film go through. Although it was rumoured a few of months ago that the next film would shoot in India, Daniel Craig himself has confirmed plans in several interviews this week.

To promote his latest film, "Cowboys & Aliens", Craig spoke to The Telegraph (of India) and also answered some Bond 23 questions about whether the production would shoot in the country. "We are working on the schedule for India and yes, it’s always exciting to play James Bond and this time is no different," Craig confirmed. In another interview covered by NDTV and Mid-Day, Craig was also asked if some scenes from Bond 23 were to be shot in India: "Yes, that's true and I am absolutely thrilled about it."

In a longer interview with The Times of India newspaper, Craig was asked whether he was already gearing up for his third outing as 007 even though shooting was a few months away. "The next Bond will start in October or November. I've kind of already started preparing for Bond. The script is in really, really good shape and I'm sure there will still be changes because that's just the way it is. But if we shot the script we have at the moment, we'd be in a good way." But when pressed about specifics on Indian locations, Craig was cagey: "Too early to talk about it..."

MI6 understands that core members of the production team are planning to be in India from January 2012 for three months. Shooting with principal cast members in the country is expected to last around three weeks. Locations under consideration are the Konkan Railway, the Red Fort, and Mumbai city streets doubled at the sprawling Big ND Studio located in Karjay, near Mumbai.