page_title: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
section_title: Filming
hierarchical_section_title: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel / Production / Filming
caption_attribution_description: English: Amber Fort in Jaipur, India Русский: Форт Амбер в Джайпуре, Индия
context_page_description: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a 2011 British comedy-drama film directed by John Madden. The screenplay, written by Ol Parker, is based on the 2004 novel These Foolish Things, by Deborah Moggach, and features an ensemble cast consisting of Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson and Penelope Wilton, as a group of British pensioners moving to a retirement hotel in India, run by the young and eager Sonny, played by Dev Patel. The movie was produced by Participant Media and Blueprint Pictures on a budget of $10 million.
  Producers Graham Broadbent and Peter Czernin first saw the potential for a film in Deborah Moggach's novel with the idea of exploring the lives of the elderly beyond what one would expect of their age group. With the assistance of screenwriter Ol Parker, they came up with a script in which they take the older characters completely out of their element and involve them in a romantic comedy.
  Principal photography began on 10 October 2010 in India, and most of the filming took place in the Indian state of Rajasthan, including the cities of Jaipur and Udaipur.
context_section_description: Principal photography began on 10 October 2010 in India. Most of the filming took place in the Indian state of Rajasthan, including the cities of Jaipur and Udaipur. In Jaipur, filming took place around the City Palace, the Marigold market, and on crowded buses. Other scenes were shot in Kishangarh, and on the outskirts of Jaipur, footage was shot at Kanota Fort, which stood in for the Viceroy Club. The place where Sonny and Sunaina meet in the film was shot nearby at the stepwell Panna Meena ka Kund near Amer Fort, a 10th-century establishment noted for its "ten stories of pale golden stone steps." Ravla Khempur was chosen as the site for the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; it is an equestrian hotel that was originally the palace of a tribal chieftain, located about an hour and a half outside of Udaipur in the village of Khempur. Madden considered the building to have a magical quality and unmistakable charm, remarking that it had "something special that could ultimately draw the characters in. It had these wonderful cool dark interiors, with glimpses of saturated light and the teeming life outside its walls." Production designer Alan MacDonald, who won Best Art Direction in a Contemporary Film from the Art Directors Guild for his work, was brought in to embellish the interiors, intentionally making it clash with "interesting furniture inspired by colonial India, mismatched local textiles, all mixed together with modern plastic bits and pieces, with everything distressed and weather beaten." Footage was also shot at the Lake Palace Hotel at Lake Pichola.
  Madden said that challenges of filming in India included the street noise, as well as the people's curiosity and hospitality when they saw him producing a camera. The cast and crew were well received by the locals, as was the director who, along with the cast, was invited by Arvind Singh Mewar, the Maharaja of Udaipur, to attend his lavish Diwali celebrations and firework display, as well as a royal wedding held at the Rambagh Palace Hotel in Jaipur. Chris Gill was the editor of the picture.
  A sequel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, began production in India in January 2014 and was released in February 2015. Most of the cast returned, with additions including American actor Richard Gere.
caption: Footage was also shot in and around Amer Fort.
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