Romanian Actors Play Russian Characters in Indian Movies

Romania is providing a perfect venue for foreign film companies because of the low production costs.

This was the reason why the Bollywood company "Inspired Movies" chose to film in Bucharest. Only one year old, Inspired Movies already produced nine movies in Bollywood , three of which where spoken in English.
A 15-strong staff came to Bucharest to film some of the frames in the erotic thriller "Natasha," which casts as the character Natasha a Romanian actress, Cristina Chirila. Other Romanian actors in the cast are Adrian Pintea, Alin Panc, Mihai Razus, and Alin Olteanu.

The title is misleading, since the leading character is not Natasha, but Ana. She witnesses a killing perpetrated by the Russian mafia and this triggers a whole series of events which keeps the viewer on the edge of his seat. Romanian producer Florin Paraschiv said the movie will be banned for viewers under 18, because it will have explicit scenes of lesbianism, sex and strip-tease.

Before coming to Romania, Jag Mundra, the director of the movie, knew only two things about it: that it started the Dracula myth and that it has beautiful women. His choice for our country followed after an actress filming here for "Seven seconds" recommended the venue. Then, Mohan Chopra, the associate producer, reasoned that if Romania was good enough for Anthony Minghella to shoot "Cold Mountain" why should not it be good enough for them?

Indeed, looking at the final production costs, one could say they made a good deal.
For one month of shooting in Romania production costs go to 300,000 British pounds. This is half of what it would have cost if the location would have been London, according to producer Divya Bhatnagar.