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Movie worlds the Lounge team would move to

Where Lounge team members would like to move right now to live out the rest of the pandemic

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in 'Taal', set in the Chamba Valley
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in 'Taal', set in the Chamba Valley

Kargil in 'Lakshya' (2004)

It may seem odd that one wants to enter the world of a film made around war, but Kargil, where Lakshya is shot and based, is about so much more. It’s visible when the camera pans across towering, rugged mountains, when there is a break from shells, shots and fatigues. The town, sadly ignored in films aside from those on conflict, has now been peaceful for over two decades—it is a region filled with ethnic diversity and stunning hiking trails, monasteries, mosques and gleaming sapphire streams. —Asmita Bakshi

Jamshedpur in 'Dil Bechara' (2020)

One of the few “planned cities”, Jamshedpur, with its pothole-free, tree-lined roads, quaint bungalows and apartments in neat layouts, and a 500-acre park in the city centre, is a dream for metro dwellers struggling with failing infrastructure. Don’t go by its depiction as a bleak industrial town in Udaan—the Steel City is a quiet suburban dream, and I am not just saying this because it’s the city of my birth. —Shrabonti Bagchi

Fort Kochi in 'Karwaan' (2018)

Karwaan begins in Bengaluru, moves to Ooty but eventually takes the three lead characters to Fort Kochi. It marks the end of a journey, but left me wanting more of a place steeped in architectural history and indelible heritage. Would I spend my evenings watching the sun set and Chinese fishing nets? Yes, please. —Nitin Sreedhar

Chamba Valley in 'Taal' (1999)

While Himachal Pradesh is home to many valleys, Chamba is memorable for me because of Aishwarya Rai romancing its natural beauty in Taal. The title song, Taal Se Taal Mila, features the lush valley, and Rai is its solitary purveyor. —Shubham Ladha

A still from 'Maheshinte Prathikaaram' (2016)
A still from 'Maheshinte Prathikaaram' (2016)

Idukki in 'Maheshinte Prathikaaram' (2016)

Kumbalangi might be idyllic and Angamaly full of local colour but of all the Kerala movie worlds, the one I would want to escape to is sleepy, sylvan Idukki in Maheshinte Prathikaaram. The opening 10 minutes alone are a vision of coffee-sipping, stream-bathing, forest-walking bliss. —Uday Bhatia

Haflong in 'Dil Se' (1998)

Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se moves between several breathtaking landscapes. Besides the tourist staples of Ladakh and Kerala, it also features an almost recondite location, Haflong, where Shah Rukh Khan’s character first comes across Manisha Koirala’s. This sleepy little town in the Barail hills of Assam, between the Brahmaputra and Barack valleys, is ideal for writers seeking both solitude and novel experiences. It has an eclectic mix of cultures, with tribes such as the Dimasas and Jaintias, and a unique version of Hindi called Haflong Hindi. —Avantika Bhuyan

Mumbai in 'Bombay Boys' (1998)

A teenaged me was fascinated with the Mumbai/Bombay of Kaizad Gustad’s ridiculous Bombay Boys. It’s a seductive, seedy Mumbai, filled with grungy out-of-work rock bands, soulful male gigolos and sexy gangster’s molls. A profoundly politically incorrect, profanity-strewn world, this city isn’t real at all, which is why I would love to live in it. —Bibek Bhattacharya

A still in 'Killa'
A still in 'Killa'

Ratnagiri in 'Killa' (2014)

Imagine, as I often do, a Konkan village in full-green bloom, a white-sand beach with not a soul in sight, a fort with no history and endless mysteries, and quiet evenings spent in the light of flickering lamps. Is there a better balm for pandemic-induced anxieties? —Omkar Khandekar

Darjeeling in 'Kanchenjungha' (1962)

Since Shundi in Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne exists only in the mind of Satyajit Ray, I am tempted to slip into the idyllic frames of his film Kanchenjungha, shot in the Darjeeling of the 1960s. Charming cafés, a relatively uncrowded Mall, and pristinely beautiful landscape redeemed the unsavoury family drama in the movie—as it certainly would our current anxiety-ridden minds. —Somak Ghoshal

A still from 'Bulbul Can Sing'
A still from 'Bulbul Can Sing'

By the Brahmaputra in 'Bulbul Can Sing' (2018)

I moved to Mumbai believing that my home town, an hour away from the Brahmaputra, is too small to hold big dreams. The last sequence of Rima Das’ Bulbul Can Sing, with wide-angle shots of the river, challenges that notion. It captures the vastness of the river as its banks fade into the sunset and the clouds clear to reveal a rainbow. Cramped in the tiny flats of a populous city, it’s impossible not to long for it. —Jahnabee Borah

Ukhrul from 'Jagga Jasoos' (2017)

The gorgeous town of Ukhrul in Manipur is very much a character in Jagga Jasoos, a movie marked by its whimsical production design, very Wes Anderson-like. I studied Tangkhul, spoken by the Tangkhul Nagas who reside in the Ukhrul district, in graduate school, and this movie is my only cinematic reference to the place. I would love to slip into the movie’s fantasy world (one in which I am flawless and fluent in the local language). —Anindita Ghose

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