Bollywood films filmed in Thailand have, over the last twenty-five years, turned Bangkok, Krabi, and Phuket into recurring backlots for Hindi cinema. The latest example tells the story in one detail. For Aditya Dhar’s Ranveer Singh-led Dhurandhar, the production designer needed six acres of contiguous space to build a Lyari, Karachi street recreation — and after scouting multiple countries, the answer was Bangkok, where the set went up in twenty days. The story is not unusual. From the romance of Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai on Krabi’s limestone islands in 2000 to action sequences shot on the streets of Bangkok in 2025, Bollywood films filmed in Thailand have shaped a working relationship between Mumbai’s biggest production houses and Thai locations, crews, and facilities.
This guide is for Indian and international producers, line producers, and location managers who are scoping Thailand for an upcoming Bollywood feature, song schedule, or stunt unit. We re-organise the well-known list of Bollywood films filmed in Thailand by location — Bangkok, Krabi, Phuket, and beyond — and pull out what each shoot teaches a producer planning to do the same. For the underlying incentive framework, see our Thailand film incentive 2026 guide; for permits, see the Thailand film permit guide.
Why Bollywood films filmed in Thailand has become a pattern, not a one-off
Three reasons recur in producer interviews and in the production records of the films themselves. The first is studio capacity. Mumbai’s working studios are operating at heavy utilisation, and a Hindi feature that needs a six-acre custom build or a fully controlled urban exterior often cannot get the schedule it wants at home. Thai facilities, working alongside Bangkok’s location-shoot networks, regularly accommodate set scales that are difficult to lock in Mumbai. The second reason is the package: bilingual crews, deep stunts and action departments, a mature equipment market, an established post-production layer, and a film-friendly regulator in the Thailand Film Office. The third is geography. Bangkok is a five-hour direct flight from Mumbai, with daily connections, which means Bollywood directors, DoPs, and producers can transit the unit between India and Thailand without losing days to travel.
The list of Bollywood films filmed in Thailand spans every genre: action vehicles built around Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, and Tiger Shroff; romantic features that helped define modern Hindi cinema; ensemble comedies; and recent ambitious set-piece productions. The pattern is consistent enough that it is now a default scouting question for any Bollywood line producer pricing an exterior schedule.
Bangkok: the urban backlot for Bollywood films filmed in Thailand
Bangkok is the city most frequently chosen for the urban, action, and built-set scope of Bollywood films filmed in Thailand. The city offers what Mumbai can no longer easily deliver under permit — long stretches of closed streets for chase units, low-slung skyline mixed with high-rise, riverine and old-town backdrops, and studio-scale undeveloped land within ninety minutes of the central hotel base.
Dhurandhar (2025) put this thesis to the test. The production needed to recreate Lyari, Karachi, at full neighbourhood scale, and Bangkok was selected because the six-acre footprint could not be assembled in Mumbai. The build went up in twenty days, with Thai construction and art-department crews working alongside Indian heads of department. The film’s surveillance and chase sequences then used the city itself, with Bangkok playing for the international portion of the story rather than as a scenic backdrop.
Earlier Bangkok-led shoots set the same pattern. Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi (2021) ran motorcycle and chase sequences on live city streets with Akshay Kumar — the kind of work that needs co-operative permitting and tight liaison with city authorities. Salman Khan’s Ek Tha Tiger (2012) used the Chao Phraya river, Wat Pho, and Khao San Road as the visible texture of its Bangkok act. Baar Baar Dekho (2016) folded Bangkok into its time-jump structure as one of the contemporary anchors. For producers, Bangkok delivers urban scale, action capability, and the construction footprint for built sets, in a single city.
Krabi: the limestone coast that built modern Bollywood romance
Krabi’s role in Bollywood films filmed in Thailand began with a discovery decision that has paid back for two and a half decades. Rakesh Roshan’s Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai (2000) shot its title sequence and key island scenes around Krabi’s limestone karsts — Khao Phing Kan, Koh Poda, and Phra Nang Cave Beach — and the look of those frames effectively became the visual reference for an entire generation of Bollywood music videos and romantic schedules. The unit’s documented experience — staying in local homes because hotel capacity was thin — also marks how early in Krabi’s filming history the production was operating.
Krabi has since become the action-on-water coast as well. Tiger Shroff’s Baaghi (2016) shot fight choreography at the Krabi Wildlife Reserve Park with its rock features and waterfalls, and song schedules at Sheraton Krabi Beach and Poda Island. The 2018 sequel Baaghi 2 expanded the coastal action footprint. Producers who need limestone-cliff exteriors, beach-with-vertical-cliff compositions, or controlled island access build their schedules around Krabi for the look — and around its longstanding marine-unit relationships for safe water shooting.
Phuket: the resort and party-sequence base for Bollywood films filmed in Thailand
Phuket plays a different role in Bollywood films filmed in Thailand from either Bangkok or Krabi. Where Bangkok delivers urban and action and Krabi delivers cliff-and-water romance, Phuket delivers resort, party, and bachelorette-energy sequences. Veere Di Wedding (2018) wrapped its Phuket leg around the Amanpuri property and the surrounding coastline, capturing the celebratory beach-and-pool act of the film over roughly a ten-day schedule. Earlier ensemble work — Sajid Khan’s Housefull 2 (2012) chose Thailand for parts of its layered comedy schedule — sits in the same Phuket-and-southern-coast register.
For Bollywood producers, the Phuket schedule is typically shorter than the Bangkok or Krabi work — single-digit days, song-and-celebration scope, with the unit hotelled in a property that also doubles as a location. The Phuket infrastructure handles this scope efficiently: villa and resort permits are routine, marine and aerial units are available, and the connection back to Bangkok is short. Our filming in Phuket location guide covers the operational side in depth.
Action vehicles and recurring star schedules in Bollywood films filmed in Thailand
Across the catalogue of Bollywood films filmed in Thailand, two casting patterns recur. Action-star vehicles — Salman Khan in Wanted (2009), Ready (2011), and Ek Tha Tiger (2012); Tiger Shroff in Baaghi (2016) and Baaghi 2 (2018); Akshay Kumar in Sooryavanshi (2021) — repeatedly route their Thailand schedule through Bangkok and southern coastal locations. The producers behind these films know the operational rhythm of a Thai schedule: pre-production with a TFO-registered service company, stunt and action liaison with local fight choreography units, marine and aerial unit booking, and post-production routed through Bangkok facilities where it makes sense.
The second pattern is the song-and-romance unit. From Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai onward, Bollywood music sequences have repeatedly chosen Thai locations for a recognisable mood. Junglee (2019), Dono (2023), and the romance-driven units of larger productions have all leaned into the same compact-schedule model — two or three days of song coverage at a known location, with a small unit, a local fixer-and-permit setup, and a quick exit. For producers, song schedules carry the lightest operational load of any Thai filming work and the cleanest budget profile.
What Bollywood films filmed in Thailand teach the next producer
Producers planning a Hindi feature, song schedule, or stunt unit in Thailand should take three operational lessons from the catalogue. First, scope to location, not the other way around: Bangkok for urban, action, and built sets; Krabi for limestone-cliff and beach action; Phuket for resort and celebratory scope. Trying to force one location to do all three lengthens the schedule and loses the look. Second, engage a TFO-registered Thai service company at pre-production, not at unit-arrival — the documentation that supports permits, work permits for Indian crew, and any rebate application starts before the first call sheet. Third, plan around the seasons: the southern coast has clear weather windows, the central plain has its own monsoon rhythm, and Bangkok’s smog season has implications for outdoor day exteriors.
The deeper lesson is that the relationship between Bollywood and Thai locations is now mature enough that the operational risk of shooting in Thailand is lower than the operational risk of forcing the same scope through Mumbai under permit and studio constraints. Dhurandhar made that case explicitly. The next Bollywood unit weighing where to put its international schedule will likely make a similar call for similar reasons.
Bollywood films filmed in Thailand — frequently asked questions
Which Bollywood film made Krabi famous as a filming location?
Rakesh Roshan’s Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai (2000), starring Hrithik Roshan and Ameesha Patel, is the most cited reference. Its title sequence and key island scenes used Krabi’s limestone islands — Khao Phing Kan, Koh Poda, and Phra Nang Cave Beach — and the visual look of those frames became the reference point for a generation of Bollywood romance schedules in Thailand.
Why are recent Bollywood films filmed in Thailand using Bangkok instead of building sets in Mumbai?
Studio capacity in Mumbai is heavily utilised, and large custom sets — Dhurandhar’s six-acre Lyari recreation is a recent example — cannot always be accommodated at home. Bangkok provides the contiguous space, the construction crew bench, and a film-friendly regulator. The build for Dhurandhar reportedly went up in twenty days, which is consistent with what international productions experience using Bangkok-based production partners.
Can a Bollywood production apply for the Thailand film incentive?
Foreign productions, including those from India, can apply for the Thailand cash rebate through a TFO-registered Thai production service company. The rebate is calculated on qualifying Thai spend, applied after the production submits an audited claim. The exact percentages and thresholds are published by the Thailand Film Office and updated from time to time — verify the current settings before locking the budget.
What is the best time of year to film a Bollywood schedule in Thailand?
It depends on the location. The southern coast — Krabi and Phuket — has a clearer dry window from roughly November to April. Bangkok shooting is workable year-round, but outdoor day exteriors are easier in the cooler dry months. A Thai production partner will plan the schedule against location-specific weather and air-quality windows.
Do Bollywood crews need Thai work permits and visas?
Yes. Foreign crew on a Bollywood production typically work under the Non-Immigrant M visa and the work-permit framework administered alongside the film permit. The Thai production service company manages the documentation. See our Thailand film permit guide for the related compliance flow.
Can post-production for a Bollywood film be done in Bangkok?
Bangkok has a mature post-production layer — VFX, finishing, audio post, and grading facilities that work to international delivery specifications. Several Bollywood productions route part of their post-production through Bangkok, particularly where the rebate framework for post-production work supports it. Our post-production rebate guide covers the eligible scope.
Is it cheaper to film in Thailand than in India?
It depends on scope. For specific work — large custom sets, action sequences requiring closed-street permitting, marine units on the southern coast — Thailand’s combined offer of capacity, crew, permits, and rebate framework often delivers a better total-cost profile than the equivalent scope in Mumbai. For purely India-set narrative work, the calculus runs the other way. The honest answer is scope-dependent and is what a Thai production partner is for.
Plan your Bollywood shoot in Thailand with a Bangkok partner that knows the workflow
Overgrown Productions is a Bangkok-based, Thailand Film Office-registered production service company with a team that has worked alongside Indian and Bollywood productions across stunt-led action features, song schedules, ensemble comedies, and large-set builds. We handle the end-to-end work — permits, locations, bilingual English-Hindi-Thai liaison where it helps, crew sourcing, equipment, stunts and marine units, visas and work permits, and post-production — and we know the operational rhythm Mumbai-based productions expect. For a conversation about your next Bollywood schedule in Thailand, reach the team in Bangkok at info@overgrownproductions.com.