Another day. Another one of those instances when we were reminded one more time why running this site means whole lot of fun. We are not sure if the picture of the church above lets you guess where this was used as a movie location. We were watching Mozhi recently and as has become the norm these days, we don’t watch the movie but we look out for any location in the movie that we might be able to find out. So, this church that comes in the following 2 scenes in the movie that caught our attention:

1) the climax of the movie (including the wedding of Prakash Raj with Swarnamalya) and
2) the CBI comedy scene between Prakash Raj & Swarnamalya, which is when Prithviraj & Prakash Raj approach Swarnamalya to talk about Jyothika.

The path that we followed to find out the location of this church was very interesting. We knew that the only country other than India where Mozhi was shot was Mauritius and the neighborhood of the church suggested that it should be somewhere in India. The scene had Swarnamalya riding a Scooty with a Chennai registration number, which led us to the conclusion that the movie should have been shot in and around Chennai. Looking closer at the church, we noticed the words ‘Domus Dei’ inscribed on the church. From then on, it was just a matter of using Google and Flickr to arrive at the exact location which is Pondichery.

About the church:
The Church of Our Lady of the Angels (also called as Notre Dame des Anges) was built in 1855 in Greco-Roman style, its façade flanked by two unadorned square towers faces east towards the ocean. This church is located in Dumas street in Pondicherry town in South India. The interior is roofed by a barrel vault, with a great dome rising over the crossing. The pastel peach and colors give it a serene appearance. The church has old pews (seating) made of cane, Indian stained glass that filters sunlit patterns of color into the interior.

This church is also famous for its rare oil painting of Our Lady of the Assumption, which was a gift from the French emperor, Napoleon III.

Movies shot at this location:
Climax and the CBI joke scene from Mozhi
Anjo scene from Vandhaan Vendraan