Salman Khan frenzy hits Warsaw

Warsaw: From being followed by fans everywhere to getting wide media coverage - the filming of Bollywood film ‘Kick’, which stars Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez in the lead roles, has generated frenzy in the Polish capital. Director Sajid Nadiadwala, who is shooting the film`s climax here, had no inkling people would react like that when he parked himself in the city for the shooting. Wherever he goes to shoot, a mixed crowd of Indians and Polish fans of Bollywood films follow him. They also chant "Salman, Salman" whenever the Hindi movie superstar comes on the set. Shooting is in full swing for the past 10 days and Gazeta Wyborcza, the largest newspaper here, is giving wide coverage to the shooting. It has put four journalists on the job. Private Polish TV channel TVN also gives big coverage to the ‘Kick’ unit, which is expected to wrap up the shooting by the end of the month, almost every day. "The day is not far when Warsaw can be known as Warsaliwood for the Bollywood producers. The locales and natural scenic beauty would prompt Bollywood to select Poland for their outdoor shootings. "The (production) cost is much cheaper and the civic authorities are cooperating generously. A city like Warsaw has more than 20 five star hotels and there are 30 Indian restaurants. The stars and the crew can have food of their choice anytime of the day or night. Young and beautiful Polish girls are ready to work as extras in the item numbers," wrote Michael Wojytczuk in Gazeta Wyborcza. Anna Kalata, a former labour minister and vice president of the Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IPPCI) and J.J. Singh, the president of the IPPCI, believe that once the film releases and if it is a commercial success, many Indians would like to come to Poland as tourists as it happened in Spain after the release of Zoya Akhtar`s ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’, a few years ago. "Poland is changing fast and for the better. Cities like Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Poznan and Wroclaw have wonderful infrastructure. A city like Lodz has the world famous film institute where Andrezej Wajda, Krzystof Zanussi and many other famous directors had started their film training. "Polish authorities are keen that Poland should be recognised as an important country internationally," added Singh. Meanwhile, Pawel, a Polish journalist, in his tongue-in-cheek style has offered a screenplay a la Bollywood movie. He wants to use the same cast as Nadiadwala has in ‘Kick’. In his proposed story, Salman will act as a chef in an Indian restaurant, situated in the centre of Warsaw and he will bail out a Sri Lankan illegal migrant Jacqueline from the clutches of a Pakistani terrorist, Randeep Hooda. So far neither Salman nor Nadiadwala have shown any interest. It seems they have enough on their plate as they want to release the film by the end of July.