by Subhash K Jha

"I've never been on a rickshaw before!". Kareena sounds as ecstatic as a child who's just been on the roller-coaster for the first time.

It's been a roller-coaster ride for the 150-member cast and crew of Vishal Bhardwaj's Othello in the town of Lucknow where they've been shooting in the rugged outdoors for the past seventeen days.

In one sequence shot in the crowded Imam Bada area of the city Kareena actually got into a manual rickshaw.

"We cordoned off the entire area for an hour. The shot had our hearts in our mouths," says the tired but triumphant director in Lucknow.

"Fortunately because of our tight security bandobast provided by the local government and arranged by producer Kumar Mangat, there were no crises during the outdoors. Otherwise shooting with such a huge cast in the streets of UP could've caused a riot."

Vishal is deeply satisfied with what he has shot. "Ajay, Saif, Vivek and Kareena...we've been at it for seventeen days, in and around Mumbai and Pune and then in Lucknow. Now we move to Allahabad. I've shot about 15-20 percent of the film. My first schedule is nearly over. But we've a long way to go."

Vishal is impressed by his actors. "I don't feel I'm working with stars. They are working as any professional group of people. They're all surprisingly down-to-earth. Saif is looking really cool with his cropped hair. I know with a cast like this I've a big responsibility. But now I'm at the battle front.There's no time to get nervous. It an all-out war. If I lose my nerves, I'll lose the battle....

To see Kareena Kapoor through the camera coming towards me on a rickshaw in the middle of that chaotic traffic in Lucknow...was no less than winning a war...Now we've moved to Allahabad where I'm shooting the coronation sequence in a temple situated in the middle of a river."