Rab ne gira di baarish

Downpour washes out Aditya Chopra's sets, halting the shooting of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer for three days

The incessant rains in the city over the past few days have wreaked havoc on the sets of Aditya Chopra's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi at Film City, Goregaon.

The set has borne the brunt badly. Most of it has been washed away and whatever remains is in a sorry state.

Says an onlooker, "The monsoon fury has left the place in a mess. The damages are exhorbitant. As a huge part of the set was spoilt, the shoot could not occur in the last few days. Workers have been working continuously to restore it."

The film starring Shah Rukh Khan and a newbie, Bangalore-based model Anushka Sharma, began shooting in mid-May. The film's mahurat was also held on the sets in the presence of Yash Chopra.

Exact replica

As reported 'Chandigarh in Mumbai' (Hitlist, May 12), Chopra had recreated a slice of Punjab as the film unfolds in that region. It is learnt that the set at the Devdas Maidan at Film City was erected to can all the outdoor portions. The set and its surroundings were an exact replica of the Punjab scenario and was apparently built at the cost of five crores."

Done with it?

Monica Bhattacharya, spokesperson for Yash Raj Films, maintains, "We are dismantling the sets of RNBDJ ourselves. As workers are still at it there; people are assuming that the set came apart due to the rains, as it appears like that."

She continues, "The shoot of RNBDJ was over before the rains arrived."

But the onlooker adds, "As they could not shoot the outdoor scenes at Film City due to the rains, the shoot was stopped for three days. They have already canned several scenes but Yash Raj is not mentioning it as a crisis situation."

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is slated for a December release. Aditya wields the directorial baton eight years after his last flick Mohabbatein.