Bollywood and Hollywood films shot in Middle East

Most of us still remember the many iconic films, such as Mission Impossible, Glaidiator, Tiger Zinda Hain and Happy New year shot in the Middle East. The Middle East has been a favorite of legendary filmmakers from all over the world. Its charming landscape with unparalleled architectural landmarks, beautiful culture and history all serve as a great backdrop to films filled with action, drama, and romance. 'Bang Bang': Remake of Tom cruise film Knight and day, featuring Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif, was largely filmed in Abu Dhabi.

Salman Khan the 'Tiger of Middle East' and has filmed some of his most popular blockbuster films such as Race 3, Tiger Zinda Hai and Bharat. All these films were shot in Abu Dhabi across various iconic locations. The mega star has a huge fan base in the Middle East.

Political thriller 'Phantom' starred Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif, directed by Kabir Khan and was partly shot in Lebanon, including in Beirut, Khandaq Al-Ghameeq and the mountain town of Kfardebian. The film centred around the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, placing them against the backdrop of global terrorism.

‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaara’: The 2013 gangster movie starring Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha and Imran Khan was shot in various locations in Oman, including the Shangri-La’s Barr Al-Jissah Resort & Spa.

Happy New Year’: Bollywood heavyweights Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan and Jackie Shroff shot this 2014 film in Dubai at Atlantis, The Palm. One of the highest grossing Bollywood films of all time, was shot almost entirely in Dubai. The film also became one of the biggest projects in terms of local casting, with more than 1,600 extras cast from across the UAE.

Russell Crowe period film 'Glaidater', many of the most famous scenes were filmed in Morocco's Ait Benhaddou. It formed the backdrop to some of the movie's most famous scenes. This was not the first Hollywood movie to film in Ait Benhaddou, a fortified village, known as a ksar, located around a three-and-a-half hour drive south-east of Marrakech, films including Oedipus Rex (1967), The Jewel of the Nile (1985) and The Mummy (1999) flocked to the Unesco World Heritage site to use its desert landscape and earthen clay architecture as backdrops.

'Lawrence of Arabia' . One of the greatest movie ever made, the deserts scenes in the movie were shot in Jordon and Morocco. An impressive epic film by director David lean , it had such amazing locations considering the tough shooting conditions like the heat and casting dozens of actors in many army sequences.

'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol'. The fourth Mission Impossible featured Tom Cruise, scaling Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world’s largest tower. The daring actor dangled from the side of the Burj Khalifa for one the scenes. Of the films many locations that included Prague and Moscow, Dubai sticks out as the centre piece of the film.

Transformers: Revange of the Fallen: Many scenes of the film was shot in Egypt at the Giza Pyramid complex and Luxor. The first major Hollywood film in decades filmed in the heart of the Middle East. The film features plenty of footage of iconic ancient monuments. The team spent three days shooting the scenes there. With a crew of 150 Americans and "several dozen local Egyptians.

For the futuristic Starbase of Yorktown, producers of Star wars - The force awakens needed an equally futuristic city. Dubai became the perfect landscape for such a vision. The crew filmed for six months . The striking architecture of Dubai's JLT waterfront, Meydan racetrack and the Burj Al Arab can all be seen in the Hollywood blockbuster.