08 January,2009 06:43 AM IST | | Subhash K Jha
Shooting for Karan Johar's production on global terrorism in London has been a terror-filled experience for director Rensil D'Silva.
After a warm invitation from the Film Commission of Britain, Rensil had to be moved out when permission was denied at the last minute.
"What was done was worse than denial of permission," says the angry writer-director. "They wouldn't tell us an outright no.
But they put so many obstacles in front of our crew we had no option but to move out of London and shoot in Philadelphia, where we were warmly welcomed.
If it wasn't for Karan, who stood by me throughout, I'd have never been able to make this film."
Wrong timing
Rensil's friends thought he was nuts to direct this story as his first project. "And they were nearly proven right when everything fell apart in London. Our timing was wrong. We went at a time when the inquiry commissions were scrutinising the 7/7 tube-station bombings.
Millions were being spent on advertising the London tube stations as being safe and inviting. The last thing they needed was a film shot in the London underground about tube-station bombings."
Now after having shot all the tube-station sequences in Philadelphia, Rensil returns to New York to shoot the rest of his film. "We'll do a bit of cheating. Philadelphia will fill in for New York. No one can tell the difference."
How far has 26/11 changed Rensil's film? "I'm shooting the film exactly the way I wrote it.
What has happened in Mumbai, doesn't alter the worldview on terrorism. It only strengthens it. I believe every filmmaker has his own take on terrorism. Unfortunately the alignment of terrorism with Islam remains unchanged."
That's where Rensil sees a problem. "People would object to some of my film's ideas and my characters' ideologies. But we can't turn away from the truth. At least I can't."
