Goa honors locations with names of popular films shot there

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One of the most ‘go-to’ locations for anything from a fun holiday to a honeymoon venue to a film shoot, Goa on the Western coast of India is a paradise both for Indians and foreigners.

Over the last 15 years in particular, it has become a rage for film shoots. Rohit Shetty shoots almost always there. The Drishyam franchise (I term it that because apparently a third installment is being planned!), Go Goa Gone, Murder 2, Aashiqui 2, Dil Chahta Hai, Dhamaal and more have had Goa as an exquisite location or part of the narrative, and so do many web series. In the past, we had movies like Ek Duuje Ke Liye and Bombay to Goa among others that wwere shot or located there.

Today, just as Switzerland has many landmarks, tourist hubs and even restaurants named after Yash Chopra, who regularly shot there from Chandni in 1989, Goa is also honoring the films, if not the filmmakers or stars, by naming areas or roads with their names.

The Dona Paula Jetty (also seen in Ek Duuje…) is now named ‘Singham Jetty’ after a popular fight scene with Ajay Devgn in the 2010 film , Singham.  Visitors can walk on the path and even sip tea at a ‘Singham’ stall, reports Bombay Times.

When Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt cycled down the road that connects Parra with Gulrim (both villages), no one knew that the palm tree-studded road would be named ‘Dear Zindagi Road’ in the minds of visitors.

The Chapora Fort where a key sequence was shot for Dil Chahta Hai and featured Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna contemplating on life and relationships, is now known as Dil Chahta Hai Fort, while Dudhsagar Falls, a landmark en route to Goa from Mumbai, has been ‘renamed’ the ‘Chennai Express’ waterfalls because of the famous sequence within the film Chennai Express. This location, with a mesmerizing view of the falls, so named as the water resembles milk (dudh) due to its sheer quantum, is also a trekkers’ paradise.

Obviously, with most Rohit Shetty films depicting Goa, there is another landmark as well—the old GMC Complex in Panaji city, where an important college campus scene was shot. It is now known as the ‘Golmaal Complex’.