A Hindi-language film shot almost entirely in Hull, a port city in United Kingdom, has brought more than £1.2m into the local economy. The production company Northern Films confirmed the figure after the crew wrapped up nine weeks of filming in and around the city in late 2025.The film is called Dastaar. It is a crime drama set in 1980s Britain and tells a story inspired by the experiences of Sikh immigrants who faced discrimination after arriving in the United Kingdom. The film stars Tarsem Singh Jassar, and its premiere is scheduled for July. Organisers are also hoping to arrange a special screening in Hull, in northern England, UK.Andrew Fenton from Northern Films said the bulk of the spending went on hotels and catering for 130 crew members who flew in from India. Other costs covered local actors, equipment hire, vintage cars for period accuracy and fees paid to film at locations including Carlton Towers, a stately home near Goole in England, UK. The Humber Bridge also featured during the shoot.Fenton said the production was originally planned for London. Around 95% of the film ended up being shot in the Hull area in the United Kingdom, which he described as an unusually high concentration for a single location. He said the hope is that other international productions will now take notice of what the region can offer.Hull, officially known as Kingston upon Hull, has steadily built a reputation as a filming destination in the United Kingdom. Productions including Victoria, The Crown, Bodies and Enola Holmes have all used the city’s Old Town in recent years. Fenton noted that most of those shoots brought crews up from London for short periods and then left without leaving much behind for local people.He said the long-term ambition is to develop proper infrastructure in the region of northern England, UK. A sound stage in particular would allow local people to build careers in film and television without having to relocate to London.“We’ve just got to get a little bit of infrastructure built,” he said. “If we could get a little bit of infrastructure with a sound stage, I think the skills would then bolt on to that.”Dastaar represents something Hull’s film community in the United Kingdom has been pushing for: a production that arrived, stayed and spent its money locally.
