Reshammiya and 'Karzzz' team flee Nairobi after riots

Mumbai, Feb 28 (IANS) The unit of Satish Kaushik's 'Karzzzz', which has singer-composer-actor Himesh Reshammiya in the lead, was jolted when political unrest and riots broke out in one of the film's primary locations in Kenya.

The location has now been shifted to South Africa.

Recalling the incident, Reshammiya told IANS: 'I really don't know what happened. But when producer Bhushan Kumar and director Satish Kaushik heard about the political unrest in Kenya they shifted location from Kenya to South Africa. Now we're shooting in Johannesburg.'

Added Kaushik: 'I was very keen to shoot 'Karzzzz' in Nairobi. But there's so much of turmoil across Kenya! I wanted to shoot some key action scenes with Reshammiya involving aircraft in Mombasa, which is such a beautiful place. But we had to shift location because riots broke out days before we were supposed to start shooting. So we've shifted the action scenes to Cape Town.'

Reshammiya was filmed at the posh casino at the Emperor Palace in Johannesberg till last week with leading lady Shweta, the daughter of filmmaker Indra Kumar.

'We shot two lavish songs in this location with Reshammiya, his leading lady Sheweta and Raj Babbar. The first song was a party song. 'Mashallah tera chehra' when Reshammiya sees Shweta for the first time. We shot with a group of ballroom dancers from a well-known troupe in South Africa,' Kaushik said.

'The second song 'Rab kare main mar javan' was a romantic duet with Reshammiya and Shweta with 50 hip-hop and cabaret dancers. I'm now shooting a background song 'Dhoom tere ishq ki',' the filmmaker said.

Kaushik gives glowing marks to Shweta.

'I had auditioned her before signing her. She's got what it takes. I should know because I've introduced Tabu in 'Prem', Bhumika Chawla in 'Tere Naam' and Sheena Shahabadi in my forthcoming 'Tere Sang'. So I guess I'm qualified to recognise talent.'

The songs in 'Karzzzz' would be on a scale that audiences have seen in Subhash Ghai's 'Karz', Kaushik says.

'But let me make it clear that Reshammiya and I aren't trying to compete with Rishi Kapoor and Subhash Ghai. This is our homage to the earlier 'Karz'.'