Kitne aadmi the? 50,000!

Crowd puller

Says Ajay, confirming the incident, "It was quite an experience to see a crowd of 50,000 surging towards you, screaming and shouting... they broke the barriers and crowded the stage. It was awesome!

When faced with such a huge mob, one doesn't know what to do, as you don't know which way the tide will turn," says a shaken Devgan laconically, perturbed by the nerve-wracking incident.

Adds Kumar Mangat, Ajay Devgan's business manager and producer (Shemaroo being the presenter) of Vishal Bharadwaj's adaptation of Othello, "This happened at around 12.30 pm, on Sunday. We had gone for Pranati's marathon, which was to raise funds for cancer. Since it was a good cause, Ajay agreed to attend the event."

Expected 10,000

What happened there? "Ajay was to present the awards to the winners. We were on stage when the crowd broke through the barriers and came to us. It was estimated that the crowd would be around 10,000. But when we arrived, it had already swelled to 50,000, which was unprecedented. Ajay was to give away prizes to the winners of the marathon, but in the crowd, the winners got lost.

They were announcing their names on the sound system but that too was broken and they couldn't be heard properly. After the crowd dispersed, they managed to find some of the winners, and Ajay posed for pictures with them."

Wasn't there a police cordon at the site? "There was a police and security cordon, but how can 1,000 policeman hold up against such a huge crowd? They tried their best, but the crowds were too much."

Kumar is all praise for his hero. "Ajay handled the situation very well. He was very calm, cool and controlled. The crowd went a bit out of control as they had all come to meet Ajay."

Film talk

Currently, the unit of O Saathi Re (the working title of Othello) is in Wai shooting for a start-to-finish 50-day marathon schedule of the film, which also stars Kareena Kapoor, Viveik Oberoi, Saif Ali Khan and Konkona Sensharma.

So what will the film finally be called — Omkara or O Saathi Re? "It could be one or it could be neither," smiles Mangat. "We haven't decided yet, and will take a call on that soon."