The scene where Shah Rukh Khan opened his arms to embrace Kajol in ‘Dilwale’ (2015) is etched in our minds. The picturesque backdrop is hard to forget.

Have you ever wondered how such scenic film locations are found?

Meet 65-year-old Ramji Natarajan, a world traveller who has been scouting exotic film locales for over three decades.

Ramji has travelled to more than 140 countries and carries with him 17 passport booklets, all stapled together.

“Nothing can replicate or substitute travel. It leaves you with important life lessons that open your mind,” he says.

Ramji calls school the worst phase of his life, saying that the thought of impending exams scared him.

He grew up in the 70s, where there were only four distinct career options — doctor, engineer, chartered accountant, and lawyer.

“I couldn’t even finish my degree, and there was no scope to think of taking up a career in anything that needed maths,” he shares.

Ramji recalls trying his hand at modelling and acting in the 1980s. The first movie he acted in was ‘Swapna’, and he ended up making about Rs 5000 for it.

Some time later, he realised that even acting was not his calling. “After having been part of more than forty movies, I realised I wasn’t really getting anywhere with it.”

Alongside all this, Ramji was also dabbling in the travel industry, trying to make a mark as a travel agent. “I tried everything that I thought would work for me,” he says.

Finally, it was in the late 80s that Ramji got his first break as a movie location scout. “It was a movie called ‘Rudranetra’, which was a Telugu spy film directed by K Raghavendra Rao for which I found locations.”

During those days, it took almost an entire year to work on a movie and Ramji recalls shooting extensively in Singapore and Malaysia in the early days.

It was only after the movie released and did well, that people recognised the work, and that in turn, motivated Ramji to keep going.

He shares how most directors would head to Switzerland for shoots and once winter would set in there, shooting would resume only in the summer.

That was when Ramji discovered the joys of the southern hemisphere – Australia and New Zealand.

Over the years, he discovered more exotic locations — Machu Picchu, which is extensively featured in director Shankar’s movie ‘Enthiran’ (Robot) (2010); Bulgaria, where major portions of ‘Baahubali’ (2015) were shot.

In the pre-smartphone era, one could only come back and describe the beauty of a location to the filmmaker, and they had to rely on what was being offered to them blindly.

Movies like Rohit Shetty’s ‘Dilwale’, parts of which were eventually shot in Iceland, and Ajay Devgn’s ‘Shivaay’ (2016), which was shot in Bulgaria, gave the films the edge they were looking for while remaining commercially viable.

Among the more recent films that Ramji has scouted locations for, are RRR (2022) — the viral ‘Naatu Naatu’ song was shot in Ukraine, and ‘The Goat’ (2024), parts of which were shot in Tunisia.

Ramji’s journey has been inspiring; from feeling like a failure at one point to becoming an indispensable part of some eminent film projects.