The Chief Minister of Punjab invites Akshay Kumar to Patiala

Mumbai: Plans of hosting a lavish premiere of ‘Patiala House’ in Mumbai and London later this week have been put off in favour of a new venue - Patiala. Thanks to the initiative taken by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the event has been shifted there.

"Yes, we are shifting the premiere to Patiala on the Punjab CM`s request. It will be held at the SRS Cinema in "Patiala on February 10. Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Akshay Kumar, Anushka Sharma and I will be flying down to Patiala for the premiere," said the film`s director Nikhil Advani. Apparently the minister happened to meet Akshay at a function in Punjab last week and the two got talking about "Patiala House", which is releasing Friday. "Parkash Singh Badal wondered why the premiere of `Patiala House` should not be held in Patiala. Isn`t it the most logical thing in the world to have premiere of `Patiala House` in Patiala? Akshay and director Nikhil Advani were stumped. Within minutes everything was decided," said a source. Incidentally while Akshay and Rishi, who are playing Sikhs in "Patiala House", are full-blooded Punjabis, the film`s leading lady Anushka is not a Punjabi but is often mistaken for one. "I don`t know if the Punjab CM thinks Anushka to be a Punjabi. But at the moment we`re all Punjabis including me (actually a Sindhi)," said Advani. IANS