Mumbai to Wales: The Surprising Welsh Story Behind Bollywood’s Cultural Heartbeat
WORLD Bollywood Day was officially marked on September 24, and here in Wales there is every reason to keep the spotlight shining a little longer.
Bollywood and Wales may not seem the most obvious of partners at first glance, yet over the years Indian cinema has built up a rather remarkable relationship with this small but scenic corner of the world.
From global superstars filming against Welsh backdrops to rugby and castles playing their part in Indian storytelling, the connection is much richer than many people might imagine.
For audiences in India, Bollywood is far more than a film industry. It is music, spectacle, romance, drama and cultural identity all rolled into one. For Wales, meanwhile, film and television have long offered a shop window to the world. Put those two things together and it is perhaps no surprise that Wales has occasionally found itself on Bollywood’s radar.
One of the most eye-catching connections came through Shah Rukh Khan, one of Indian cinema’s biggest names. His blockbuster Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham remains one of the best-loved Bollywood films of modern times, and part of that movie found a link to Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, with the venue standing in for Wembley. It is one of those deliciously unexpected details that perfectly suits our Ewegottalove mission: one of the most famous films in Indian cinema history carrying a little piece of Wales within it.
That was far from a one-off. Back in the early 2000s, Wales was actively trying to attract more Indian film productions. There was a sense that Bollywood, with its appetite for beautiful and distinctive locations, could become a natural fit for the nation’s landscapes, heritage and character. And for a time, that effort really did bear fruit. Films such as Maine Dil Tujhko Diya reportedly made use of Aberystwyth Castle, giving Welsh history and Indian popular culture a memorable point of contact. It is not every day that a ruined castle on the west coast of Wales becomes part of the scenery for a Hindi-language film.
Then there is Yr Wyddfa, known to many as Snowdon, one of the most iconic landmarks in Wales. Already familiar to walkers, climbers and postcard collectors, it also gained a Bollywood connection when Kyun! Ho Gaya Na… was partly filmed there. It is easy to see why filmmakers would be drawn to it. Dramatic, atmospheric and unmistakably Welsh, it offers exactly the sort of visual grandeur that Bollywood has always loved.
Wales has even offered Bollywood a touch of the gothic. Margam Castle, with its imposing appearance and rich sense of atmosphere, provided a setting for Bhoothnath Returns, a film associated with legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan. The sight of one of Indian cinema’s great icons being linked with a grand Welsh castle feels like the sort of cultural crossover no-one could have planned, yet it works beautifully. It reminds us that Wales can lend itself not only to tourism campaigns and historical drama, but also to the imaginative worlds of international cinema.
The Welsh connection does not end with landscapes and architecture. Rugby, one of Wales’ great passions, has also found its way into the Bollywood orbit. The film Jungle Cry, based on the true story of underprivileged Indian youngsters who discover rugby, spent time filming in Wales. Its final scenes were shot at Parc y Scarlets, and the project even drew in familiar Welsh rugby names such as Phil Bennett and Nigel Owens. Here was a film rooted in Indian experience but bringing in the spirit of Welsh sport, proving once again that these connections can be about people and values as much as places.
What makes the story even more interesting for us at Ewegottalove is that it is not simply a tale from the past. There are signs that the Wales-Bollywood relationship still has life in it. Reports this month have linked Akshay Kumar, another major star of Indian cinema, with filming in Cardiff for a new production. If that proves to be another significant Welsh chapter in the Bollywood story, then Wales will once more be playing host to one of the world’s biggest film industries.
All of this points to something bigger. Wales may be a small nation, but it consistently punches above its weight when it comes to storytelling, scenery and cultural reach. For Bollywood, Wales offers castles, mountains, stadiums, coastlines and a strong visual identity. For Wales, Bollywood offers access to a vast global audience and the chance to be discovered by millions of viewers who might never otherwise have thought about visiting or learning more about the country.
That feels particularly relevant at a time when Ewegottalove is also looking increasingly outward through features such as Wales Around the World. The relationship between Wales and India is not confined to education, business or diaspora communities. It can also be found in cinema, in shared creativity and in those moments when cultures meet in the most unexpected and entertaining ways.
So yes, World Bollywood Day may have been and gone for another year, but the Welsh story behind Bollywood is far too good to be squeezed into a single date on the calendar. From Shah Rukh Khan to Amitabh Bachchan, from Aberystwyth Castle to Margam Castle, from Yr Wyddfa to Parc y Scarlets, Wales has quietly played its own supporting role in one of the world’s most colourful and influential film industries.
And that is something well worth celebrating.
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Did Ewe Know?
“Bollywood” does not mean the whole Indian film industry. Strictly speaking, it refers to Hindi-language cinema, centred largely on Mumbai. India also has enormous regional film industries, including Tollywood for Telugu-language cinema and Kollywood for Tamil-language cinema. Together they underline just how vast and diverse Indian cinema really is.