By Daniel Craig confirmed at the beginning of this month that Bond 23 will be heading to India, but reports are saying that the filming of a major stunt sequence, set on a freight train travelling between Ahmedabad and Goa, has been delayed by several months due to governmental bureaucracy and may result in the filmmakers shifting production to South Africa, which is already known to have been scouted.
Pravesh Sahni, of Indian Take One Productions (who would manage any Bond shooting in India), is quoted as telling The Times Of India that the shoot was originally scheduled to take place between October and November, but has been pushed back to the beginning of next year. He is worried that the delays could result in his country losing the production, with South Africa having already made all the right assurances and the Indian government having not yet responded to his requests to make his case.
The story also mentions that Daniel Craig would be present and doing stunts on the train. The last Bond to shoot in India was Octopussy in 1983, one of Roger Moore’s best despite the campy name, which also featured a major action set-piece on a train, albeit one travelling across Europe. Fans will also remember the tense train sequence in From Russia With Love as featuring the famous fight scene between Sean Connery’s Bond and Robert Shaw’s Donald ‘Red’ Grant, which has gone down as one of the most visceral and excitingly staged in film history. Daniel Craig’s Bond also had a big scene on a train in Casino Royale: his first meeting with Vespa Lynd.
In short, the Bond movies have outstanding previous when it comes to that particular form of transport, so whether the shoot happens in India or South Africa, I’m very much looking forward to seeing if 23 can maintain those standards.
[The Times Of India via MI6]