News

Dharma Productions beefs up security for Ungli

12 Nov 2012

Dharma Productions has doubled the number of personal security guards for the shooting of Rensil D'Silva's Ungli . Huge insistent crowds have been gathering on the outdoor locations of Rensil D'Silva's Ungli, which he has been shooting in Mumbai locations, namely Kandivali, Versova, Bandra Bandstand for the last ten days.

Says a source from the unit, "Emraan Hashmi is a huge crowdpuller. We didn't realize how huge he was until the shooting started. Everywhere on location in Mumbai, it's the same story. There are hundreds of gawkers who come to stare at him shoot with Sanjay Dutt, Kangna and the rest of the cast."

Rensil D'Silva who's been shooting, in his words, like a madman took time off to explain, "It's certainly not easy shooting on location in Mumbai. We have 69 locations for Ungli and a 70-day shoot all over Mumbai with just 2 days off for Diwali and 5 days for Christmas."

Rensil admits it isn't easy shooting in Mumbai. "There are many practical hurdles. Luckily when you have a producer like Dharma Productions all the permission is obtained well in advance. So there's no confusion on that score. Having said that Emraan, Mr Sanjay Dutt and Kangna are popular stars. They do attract stares and sometimes more. But nothing that we can't control."

Rensil admits the private security from Dharma Productions has been beefed up. "I can't tell you how many guys we have here in Safari suits with walkie talkies. But there must be least two dozen of them. It's only fair for film units to provide their own security. We can't expect the administration to look after us on location when there are so many kinds of crime happening in the city."

Rensil agrees it's getting progressively tough to shoot in Mumbai, and that film units need to provide their own security. "I guess I am beginning to realize how difficult it. When I shot for my first film Kurbaan abroad, we had difficulties getting permission to shoot in London. So we shifted the location to the US. But once we started shooting there were no problems on location. Here, it is much tougher."

Quips Rensil, "I just wrote my 'holiday film' Student Of The Year for Karan Johar. I guess the holiday is over."

Incidentally, Rensil D'Silva's Ungli is not the only film being shot during the night on different locations in Mumbai. Rajkumar Gupta's Ghanchakkar , Anurag Kashyap's Ugly and Ram Gopal Varma's 26/11 are also being shot all over Mumbai.