Salman and Asin's London Dream turns traumatic

By Subhash K Jha

Vipul Shah's decision to shoot the last song of London Dreams in Bhandup in a makeshift maidaan representing a rock stadium turned out to be quite traumatic.

To begin the woes in the middle, when Salman's dog passed away during the shooting of the song the actor broke down and wept like a baby. But he didn't cancel the shooting.

Nonetheless this could qualify as the most difficult climactic song ever shot. Vipul Shah recently shot the final rock –concert number for London Dreams in Bhandup near Mumbai with 5,000 junior artistes cheering Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan, Asin, Ranvijay and Aditya Roy Kapoor who play members of a music band.

Says Vipul, "We were struck for the last song because of the rains. And then because of swine flu we weren't allowed to shoot in crowds. But I had no choice. The song couldn't be delayed."

Remo choreographed the song and the track was sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Shankar Mahadevan.

Says Vipul, "We couldn't get the stars' fans to fill up the open-air auditorium-set for the very simple reason that in the earlier concert songs for London Dreams we had seen how unruly the fans get when they see their favourite stars dancing in front of them"

On top of all the practical problems faced during the shooting of this massive song, the stars were all busy elsewhere. "Salman was shooting for Dus Ka Dum.

He requested them to postpone their shooting for two days. Ajay was supposed to start Priyadarshan's shooting on those days. He asked Priyan to push his dates forward. Asin was doing an endorsement down south.

Ranvijay was shooting for another film in Delhi. He flew both days and flew back. And Aditya Roy Kapoor who was shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Guzaarish also accommodated my song."

To compound Vipul's troubles Salman's dog died during the shooting. "I thought he would leave. But he continued shooting."

Though the experience of putting the climax song together turned out to be a nightmare Vipul is undeterred. " I've relieved my non-core group of technicians for my film Action Replay from their duties for now.

When we regroup and they're free to join us. Akshay and Aishwarya have promised the dates whenever we need them. If the actors a committed to a project nothing can stop a film from reaching the winning post."

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