A film scout since the 1980s, Natarajan – who has found locations in 75 countries for more than 1,000 movies to date – must deliver unique and cost-effective backdrops that showcase the chosen location’s beauty to Indian audiences.

When I reach Natarajan by phone, he is in Tunisia scouring the North African country for his next movie location.

“I have been walking in the bazaars experiencing the energy and chaos,” he says. “I also visited a beautiful Colosseum from Roman times. Another day, I was in the middle of the Sahara desert, jumping into water in a natural oasis.”

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Indian movies involve a lot of song, dance and action, and many filmmakers prefer foreign locations for them; the crowds are more manageable and obtaining permission for shoots is often much simpler than at home.

However, until 1996 not many filmmakers went abroad. That year, the Indian government made the licensing and regulation of foreign exchange simpler, and locations in countries such as Switzerland quickly became favoured by the nation’s moviemakers.

Natarajan was prepared.

“I was a bad student and would just manage to pass my courses,” he says. “My mother sent me to a typewriting course so that I would at least become a personal secretary or clerk.

“I used to play a lot of games like cricket and badminton, and also do the odd modelling assignment that came my way. Through a common friend, I met the famous comedian Nagesh, who thought I may have a talent for acting, and that’s how I got my first movie.”

“I acted in around 40 movies [including Trimurthulu (1987), as the villain in a fight on a bus in Hong Kong] but found that I was stuck, not really making progress,” he says. “Some friends offered to back me financially if I started a travel agency. I started Travel Masters India in 1991.”

By then, he had already had his first scouting commission, for the movie Rudranetra, which was shot in Malaysia and Singapore in 1988. “That was the beginning of my journey as a location scout, and I had finally found my calling,” he says.

“It starts from advising clients on locations, to organising tickets, booking hotels, getting visas, moving technical equipment, advising them on tax breaks and rebates, moving around a team of as many as 100 people and dancers and stuntmen, and a whole gamut of other activities around shooting a film.

“I always visit a place before I recommend it to my clients, then it involves a lot of discussions with the director, the producer and the team.

“Generally, at least three trips are needed to finalise a location, and go about implementing the shoot,” he explains.

Among the more unusual locations Natarajan has procured have been the Salar de Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia, where a dance routine for the movie Sarrainodu (2016) was shot; and a remote black-sand beach in Iceland for the hit song Gerua, which appeared in the Rohit Shetty film Dilwale (2015).

According to an article in the Hindustan Times newspaper, Dilwale was responsible for a significant increase in tourism from India to Iceland.

“I specialise in ‘film tourism’,” says Natarajan, “because by watching these movies shot in exotic locales, people have aspirations of travelling to those places and therefore these movies act as free publicity for those countries.”

“Once, when we were travelling for a movie shoot to Uzbekistan, our camera and equipment got confiscated at the airport. It was a terrible experience. Sometimes if your local partners are not strong, they let you down badly, [which also] happened once in Kazakhstan.”

In 2014, he spent 51 days shooting in China – including Guilin, Huanglong, Yangzhou and Hangzhou – for director Shankar Shanmugam’s action thriller I, roping in some of the best martial arts experts in the country.

“In China, the language problem was acute and we needed an interpreter at all times. For an action sequence in the ancient village of Hongcun, we used the services of [a] Hong Kong action director.”

Natarajan has become an expert in sourcing cost-effective alternatives that can be made to resemble cities like Paris or Milan. For the 2017 action thriller Mersal, he helped transform the Macedonian National Theatre in Skopje into Paris’ Palais Garnier opera house.

With a cast and crew numbering 1,000 people and a shoot lasting 10 days, Natarajan estimates that shooting in Paris would have cost 10 times what was paid in North Macedonia.

When actor and producer Ajay Devgn needed good technicians and snowy mountains but a cheaper alternative to Canada, Natarajan suggested Bulgaria, which is where Shivaay (2016) was shot.

Natarajan’s newest prize find is Azerbaijan, where the cities can easily stand in for Dubai or Paris – especially at night – and the people are extremely friendly and easy-going, which makes the shoots easier.

“I always have to stay ahead of the curve, as the world of movies is dynamic and constantly changing and upgrading. In a world of technology and information, I have to stay relevant to my clients and help them get the best optics for the least cost.”

His most precious possessions, he says, are his 16 passports, filled with stamps from across the world. He has travelled to 140 countries, met heads of state and been honoured as a tourism ambassador by countries such as Switzerland and Spain.

He was one of the first to arrange shoots for Bollywood movies in the southern hemisphere – between 1997 and 2010 he oversaw 145 film segments in New Zealand – so that production could continue when it was winter in Switzerland and elsewhere.

He has 30 projects in eight countries under way. “I am even looking at handling cross-border film projects that do not involve Indian movies – like a Japanese movie, for example, that needs to be shot in Europe,” he says.

“Just shooting one song may sometimes take six days. I have the luxury then to just soak in the sights of some exotic locale. Shooting a movie may take months on end and, as I am not a part of the actual shoot, and more concerned with logistics, I have the time to explore a new place on my own.

“Every day is different, and it gives me the opportunity to meet people from various countries and cross-sections. I feel that real wealth is travel, as it gives you a deep knowledge and understanding of the world, which is priceless.”