Filming in Norway from India

Norwegian Cultural Center (NCC NO AS, org.nr 930 070 165) is a Norwegian line production company that has hosted Indian film and music video crews since 2022 — Punjabi and Hindi music videos for Gringo Entertainments and Vaaho Entertainments, and feature films for Shri Narotam Ji Studios and Top Notch Studios. We know where Indian productions get stuck in Norway: visas, budgets, daylight, permits and crew size. We plan around them before you book a single flight.

Track record

Indian productions we have delivered in Norway

Every production below was run on the ground by NCC: locations, permits, Norwegian crew and extras, accommodation, transport and on-set coordination.

Plus paid location recces for Shri Narotam Ji Studios, Top Notch Studios, Planet D (Black Book, Bergen and Oslo, April 2025), YDW Production, Small Talk and Gringo Entertainments. Full record and published credits on Our Work.

Three of these were features — the longest a three-week shoot — and every released music video names NCC in the studio’s own published credits.

Visas

The honest picture on visas

Crew members with Indian passports normally travel on a Schengen short-stay visa, applied for through VFS Global in India. Applications can be lodged up to six months before travel, and the standard decision time is 15 calendar days, extendable to 45.

Since 2025, visa assessment for Indian film crews has become noticeably stricter. In our experience the highest risk is a large group where most members have never travelled abroad or have no documented film work. When half a crew is refused, a professional shoot cannot go ahead — so we plan the crew structure before anyone applies:

• A lean travelling crew built around people with film credits and travel history.
• Norwegian crew for the rest — camera and lighting assistants, grips, drivers, runners and extras, contracted and paid directly by NCC NO AS.
• Clear roles and documentation for every person who travels, and applications lodged as early as the rules allow.
• A plan B if a key person is refused, including an appeal to the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI).

For confirmed productions, NCC provides the invitation letter and the production documentation each application needs.

No one can guarantee a Schengen visa, and agents who promise one should be avoided. The decision belongs to the Norwegian authorities alone.

Built for crews from India

The details that make a shoot run

Hindi and Punjabi on set

Hindi and Punjabi are spoken on our team, so the director, the crew and the Norwegian side are never lost in translation.

Indian food, every shoot day

We arrange Indian catering for the crew — vegetarian and non-vegetarian — on location and at the hotel.

Invitation letters

For confirmed productions we issue the invitation letter and production documentation for each crew member’s visa application.

Locations and seasons

What Indian productions come to Norway for

Most of our Indian clients come for the same things: fjords, waterfalls, snow, mountain roads and old wooden towns that look nothing like a studio backlot. We have scouted and shot across Oslo and eastern Norway, Bergen and the Hardanger fjord coast, the Telemark mountains and northern Norway.

Season decides the schedule. Oslo has close to nineteen hours of daylight in late June and around six in late December. Summer suits song sequences by water and green valleys; winter gives real snow but needs a tight, light-driven schedule. We have run Indian features in both: Butta Bond in September and Ek Mili Mainu Apsara in February.

How it works

From first call to wrap

1. Feasibility call. Dates, crew size, locations and budget. We tell you what is realistic in Norway and what it will cost before you commit.
2. Paid recce. Your director and producer see the locations with us. For Butta Bond the recce was in May and the shoot in September.
3. Crew and visa plan. Who travels from India, who we hire in Norway, and when each application goes in.
4. Locations, permits and bookings. Location agreements, municipal and landowner permits, accommodation, vans and equipment.
5. The shoot. We meet you at the airport and stay on set until wrap, with Norwegian crew and extras contracted through NCC NO AS.

The 25% incentive

Features can get up to 25% back

The Norwegian Film Production Incentive refunds up to 25% of approved costs spent in Norway for international feature films, documentaries and drama series with a minimum of NOK 4 million in approved Norwegian spend. It runs as one competitive round a year, and the application must be in before work starts in Norway. Music videos are not eligible. Eligibility, deadlines and costs →

Questions

Filming in Norway from India: common questions