Patiala popular as shooting destination for Bollywood

Patiala: The ancient buildings erected by the Patiala dynasty has created interest in Bollywood art directors as the city has been witnessing the filming of a number of Hindi movies since last year.

These days the shooting of `Son of Sardar` and `Bhaag Milkha Bhaag` are in full swing as all the hotels in the city are overcrowded. Ajay Devgan`s home production `Son of Sardar` is a Bollywood romance drama directed by Ashwani Dhir and its shooting is in progress at Bagrian village of Sangrur district. The film stars Ajay Devgn, Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Dutt and Sonakshi Sinha and is scheduled for release on November 14. The shooting of Farhan Akhtar starrer `Bhaag Milkha Bhaag`, a biopic on legendary Indian athlete Milkha Singh directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, is also going on here at Government Mohindra College and Punjabi university campus. The producer of `Son Of Sardar` has booked the Neemrana Hotel in Baradari gardens for over two months till April 20 and other crew members have been putting up at other hotels around the city. Navratra has traditionally been considered an important festival in the Devgan family. But this time, since Ajay is shooting for his upcoming production venture in Patiala, his wife Kajol and family will be taking off to Patiala to celebrate Ashtami with the actor. They will also be celebrating his 43rd birthday on location. Ajay also visited Qila Mubrak on Saturday alongwith other members to pay obeisance at the gurdwara situated inside it. Supplying snacks and tea to over 1200 crew members of the two units on site has been a difficult task for the production units. The unit of `Bhaag Milkha Bhaag` has been demanding milk in tetra pack and the local dealer has been facing difficulty in supplying it. "We have been supplying Amul milk to the unit even though local distributor has been not able to supply in time," said Amandeep Gypsy, a local merchant. "We have to gather it from the Chandigarh and Ambala to meet the daily demand of the crew," he added. "They have been asking for a certain tea brand which is not available in Patiala but we have to get it for them even if we have to arrange it from Delhi," said Gypsy. Asked about the other snacks he has been supplying to the units, he said, besides tea bags of Twinings of different flavours, they also demanded energy drinks. As far as cabs are concerned almost all the vehicles have been booked by both the units and residents are facing difficulty as the wedding season is in full swing. Old utensils and horses are also in demand from both the units, said Satish Sethi alias Tony, an event manager here. Last year Salman Khan`s shot his movie `Bodyguard` here. Two years back Saif Ali Khan starrer `Love Aaj Kal` was also shot in the city. PTIsa