Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara has already become the most watched film ever in the history of cinema which contains scenes of the Sanfermin fiestas. It has been calculated that some 70 million people have already seen this movie in Indian cinemas. We have recently learnt that the original idea of the director, Zoya Aktar, was to film in Mexico, but when she discovered the magnetism and power of the fiestas of Sanfermin she changed her mind and decided to film in Pamplona. This decision was just recently revealed by Carlos Catalán -director of photography for the movie ZNMD- when he was interviewed on the radio program “Asuntos Propios” on Spanish national radio. Catalán was given the interview as he had received an award for his work on the Indian movie – ZNMD – as part of the FilmFare Awards – the equivalent of the Oscar awards in the Bollywood movie world. He received the top award for his work as director of photography.
Toni Garrido, the presenter of the radio program, asked him about the fact of his working on an Indian movie and his contribution to the film. It was then that Carlos revealed that “The director, Zoya Aktar, told me that she had wanted to set the movie in Mexico. But when she learnt about the Sanfermines fiestas, she and her co-scriptwriter both decided to change the scenery for Spain. Thanks to the Sanfermin fiestas the idea of filming in Spain came about”. In the same radio interview both the writer, Elvira Lindo, and Tom Kallene were also present. Kallene is a man who has experienced the Sanfermin fiestas at first hand. He is the author of the book Sueco se ecribe con Ñ- (‘Swedish is written with a Ñ’). This is just another example of the attraction of the Sanfermin fiestas and the repercussion that the fiestas can have on the plastic screen which allows so many people to learn about the fiestas even if it is only on a movie screen as has been the case recently with the two movies, Knight & Day and the Indian movie, ZNMD.
