So help !!

‘Teen Patti’, Sir Ben and the casino and streets of London are done with. It is time to head home. And on to ‘Rann’, if that is the name that still remains of Ram Gopal Varma’s film, followed by ‘Paa’.

The streets of London… being driven around them… were the most exciting moment of the shoot in the entire film. And it happened with great ease and great management. The City of London actually gave us a motorized pilot policeman to hold traffic, hold pedestrians, hold hands.. with almost anyone that even vaguely tried to disrupt the shoot. Impressive !!

There were a lot of walkies and talkies crackling instructions and lots of crew shouting and screaming, but Venkat alias Ab, alias Amitabh Bachchan, merely sat back in high end Audi, looking about the important monuments that went by as the ‘loader’ bumped and thumped its way about some of the more congested streets in the heart of London.

The ‘loader’… a low end trailer 4 wheeler, attached to high end power truck, pulling the Audi loaded on to it. So, Audi you see, does not move. Truck moves. Trailer with Audi and several camera positioned on its sides, moves. And Venkat sits in Audi, giving the works as though he is being driven. Simple.

But… I have to say this. The world over, the reactions to shootings in public places is the same. Everyone, just everyone, stops to see, turns around to see, takes mobile photograph of the occasion to see. I wonder what attracts them. And may I say that even I when I drive past a shooting in progress, want to stop and see, who is at work, how they did the scene or the shot and so on..

Peculiar eh!!

And another observation. Every Mac computer store in the world looks the same. Same decor, same style of presentation, same steps in the middle of the store, same coaching area at the far end of the top floor and same really busy staff.

No matter what you purchase there, the wait at the pay line never seems to end. And another.. the number of different nationalities that roam the streets of Mac Country are incredible. Pardon my immodesty, but there was a mini mobbing inside the store and none of them were from India. Germans, Liberians, West Indian, Pakistani’s, East Europeans, Americans.. you name it they were all there and all wanted to show to me how terribly impressive their mobiles were !! Photographs and autographs later, I extricate myself through the good offices of Yousuf and Adrian, my helpers and guards, and head back.

Job done. Shoot wrapped.

In the morrow shall we meet again… fresh with renewed energy and new circumstances..

My love to all..

Amitabh Bachchan