'James Bond's' India journey scrapped

James Bond is no longer coming to India. Despite a green signal from the Indian railways ministry, plans to shoot a few action sequences for the British super spy film have been shelved.

"The production company, India Take One Productions, have communicated to the railway ministry that they are not shooting the next Bond film in India, and that they are looking at other places," sources from the railway ministry confirmed to IANS.

"The production company has thanked the railway ministry for their co-operation in the past few months," added the sources.

The producers of the movie, tentatively titled Bond 23, wanted to shoot high-speed stunts on the Indian Railways. There was a request to shoot on the rooftop of a moving train, as well as inside a tunnel. However, they were having trouble getting permission due to safety and security issues.

Though the ministry gave the go-ahead to the film's January-March 2012 shooting schedule, officials were worried about the production team's demand of "locking off the lines for seven-eight hours a day for seven days in a row".

The crew of Bond 23, starring Daniel Craig, had also short-listed Goa's Dudh Sagar waterfalls as one of the locations.

Now, the shooting is likely to move to South Africa, according to media reports.