Ghajini Producer detained for Swine Flu

By Subhash K Jha

Mercifully it was just a false alarm. But for a while it was touch-and-go for producer Madhu Mantena in London with director Abbas Tyrewala for the pre-production of 1: 800 Love when he contracted the common cold.

"Unfortunately, given the current swine flu scenario the common cold is not considered common any more. For a while I continued to function normally. But then the cold grew into headaches and a fever" shudders Madhu.

That's when Madhu pressed the panic button. "In the current scenario any man sneezing and wheezing on the street is considered potentially deadly. It's a suspicious world out there. And if you are brown-skinned sneezer on Oxford Street you're in serious trouble. At the moment a bearded guy with gun is considered potentially less serious than an ethinic guy with a cold."

Cutting short his pre-production and leaving Abbas to attend to the nitty-gritty Madhu rushed back on Sunday to Mumbai in a panic…only to be quarantined at the Mumbai airport briefly.

"Fortunately mine is just an ordinary flu, nothing swinish about it, " says Mantena