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 Two days after the tepid response to the latest Salman starrer Main
Aurr Mrs Khanna its shell-shocked debutant director Prem R. Soni was
bracing himself to be written off as one-film wannabe-wonder.
Salman Khan restored Prem’s trust in his abilities when on Sunday
night at a private family gathering, he embraced the shaken director
and announced, “No matter what people say about Khanna you are doing
our next film.”
Relieved beyond belief Prem Soni is now a bigger Salman fan than
ever before. “The way Main Aurr Mrs Khanna has been received I thought
no one would want to touch me with a bargepole. So many announcements
go down the drain if the first film doesn’t work.”
Relieved, Soni is still bewildered by the savage response to his
maiden effort. “It was almost as if we made the worst film on this
earth. I could smell the resentment against the film. There was
definitely an attempt to write it off on the day of release.”
Salman who had just delivered a grand hit in Wanted showed his full faith in Main Aurr Mrs Khanna.
Says the director, “He completely believed in my film and his
character. But since he was already so visible for Wanted we decided to
go easy on the publicity for Mrs Khanna. We were wrong. This was a
different Salman and a different film. Not that aggressive promotion
helps. But aggressive anti-publicity surely damaged my film.”
Whatever the response to the film at home Main Aurr Mrs Khanna has
been warmly received in Australia where the film is set and where a
number of prominent Hindi films have been lately shot.
Says Prem Soni, “Melbourne is not just a location in my film. It’s
one of the characters in the plot. Has anyone commented on how hard we
worked on getting the locations right? Main Aurr Mrs Khanna is the
first Indian film to be shot on an international airport. When I wrote
my script a major part of drama was situated on an international
airport.”
Salman, Sohail and Soni were very clear on the fact that they wanted
to shoot on an international airport. “We didn’t want to erect a set
depicting an airport. A set looks like a set no matter how authentic. I
made contact with the authorities at several airports. We had the
choice of shooting on the airport in three cities Geneva, New York and
Melbourne. We chose Melbourne because after much discussion they
offered us the best deal.”
And shooting on the bustling international airport in Melbourne was
allowed absolutely free of cost. “Can you imagine? All we were told was
to shoot in the nights when the air traffic was less dense. We paid
nothing and we got complete and free access to shoot in the most
restricted areas on the airport. We shot in an area past the
immigration, so any of us could take an unauthorized flight to any part
of the world. But all of us Kareena, Salman, Sohail, Yash Tonk, Nauheed
Cyrusi and Bappi Lahiri, were very careful of our responsibility. We
had been given a huge privilege and a diplomatic immunity. It wasn’t
just us. It was India’s reputation at stake.”
Sighs Soni, “Has anyone noticed that Main Aurr Mrs Khanna is the
only film to be shot on an airport since Steven Spielberg’s The
Terminal? It’s so easy and so much fun to be clever at a film’s
expense.”
Sampurn Media
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