Locations in Europe: Yorkshire (Bradford, Leeds, and Sheffield) and Leicester in United Kingdom
Storyline
Star(s): Akshay Kumar, Kunal Kapoor, Mouni Roy, Amit Sadh, Vineet Kumar Singh, and Sunny Kaushal
Songs/Dance/Action Sequences: UK and India.
Indian/ International Crew: Indian and British crew.
Language: Hindi
Line Producer/Executive Producer/Associate Producer Executive Producers: Shivani Saran and Seher Aly Latif Associate Producer: Firuzi Khan Line Producer in UK: Kurban Kassam
Director/Producer: Directed by Reema Kagti, Produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, Excel Entertainment
Film Location Analysis
By Shikha Jhingan
The film was shot in Yorkshire, in cities like Bradford, Leeds, and Sheffield. Some sequences of the film were also shot in Leicester, England’s East Midlands region. The opening sequence of the film shows the British Indian Hockey team. According to reports, the film spent more than three months in Bradford and were supported by Bradford’s City of Film.
The film opens with a sequence of Berlin Olympics of 1936, where the British Indian team had won the gold medal in the final match defeating the host country. The sequence shot at the Doncaster Racecourse in South Yorkshire captures this dramatic match in the presence of Adolf Hitler, where the Indian team starts getting support from the crowds for fighting back the German team’s aggressive style of playing. Some of the scenes of the German camp and team’s entry outside the stadium were shot in Bradford in an area called Little Germany. The reason for selecting this location was because of its architecture that looks similar to Berlin of the 1920s and the 30s. The location was dressed up by the production design team with Nazi flags, the swastika, and other iconic symbols. According to reports, several local people were hired as ‘extras’ for the scenes that required crowds.
In the latter half of the film, the newly formed team of independent India comes to the UK to play for the 1948 Olympics. The film captures the team travelling to various cities and stadiums to play their matches to finally reach the finals. The crew used locations of various football clubs and Rugby stadiums in the Yorkshire area to cover various matches.
According to Shivani Saran, the executive producer of Gold, they needed to recreate London of the 1940s, with vintage cars, transport vehicles for teams, and stadiums that would look like they were from that time. Therefore, the film required a location in the UK.
One important aspect of shooting in Yorkshire was the involvement of local crew and actors who could be cast as hockey players. The crew took the help of a London-based casting director and put out calls for casting at various hockey associations.
During the shooting of the film, the crew got a lot of media attention from the local newspapers in London. These stories also revisited the Indian team’s historic win in the 1948 Olympics. Interestingly, locations like Bradford’s Midland Hotel and Harrogate’s Old Swan Hotel were used as sites for recreating the Gymkhana club and other clubs of Bombay of the 1930s and the 40s.
For the final match originally played in Wembley, London, the shooting location was Bootham Crescent Football Club in York City. The Indian team is shown to be the underdogs who are plagued by infighting and lack of discipline. At a crucial juncture in the match, the stadium is shown getting lashed with rain. The film draws attention to the unpredictable weather in London that seems to benefit the host team. The Indian team is unable to play in the rain as the ground becomes extremely slippery. A flashback sequence reminds Tapan Das how to handle these conditions on the ground. He asks his players to remove their shoes and play bare feet, which turns the match around. Interestingly, in the making-of videos of the film, the crew and cast are seen complaining about the English weather. The film ends with the Indian National Anthem being played on British soil, with the Indian winning team looking proudly at the Indian flag.
Additional Information & Links
https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/news/broadcasting/2018/08/bradford-turns-gold-launch-bollywood-film
https://www.thelocationguide.com/2017/08/bollywood-sports-biopic-gold-now-on-location-in-yorkshire/ https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/16324354.indian-megastar-akshay-kumar-stars-gold-shot-bradford/
