If writer-director Renzil d'Silva had his way his film on terrorism would have been shot in London. Unfortunately, as per the script, permission was denied to shoot in any underground tube station of London.
A little ironical, considering Jagmohan Mundhra's Shoot On Sight based on the London tube-station bombing was shot on actual location.
Says Mundhra, "Getting permission was tough. The British authorities were very apprehensive because they had read my script. The UK Film Council had to invervene after we protested about artistic muzzling. "
Such pleas, however, did not work with Renzil's terror drama. Not any more. The film had to be shifted wholesale out of London.
Since a major chunk of the terrorists' scenes featuring Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Viveik Oberoi and Om Puri were situated in a tube station, the unit had no option but to shift base wholesale to Philadelphia in the US where permission was not only obtained to shoot in a tube station, but an entire train was hired for shooting during off hours.
Confirming this shift of venue Om Puri who plays a terrorist mastermind in Renzil's face says, "We were supposed to shoot the film in London. But were denied permission to shoot at a tube station. Now we're shooting in Philadelphia.
The paradigms of terrorism and films on the theme have certainly shifted first after 9/11 and now even more so after what has happened in Mumbai. "
It looks like one of Bollywood's beloved villains the terrorist played by all and sundry from the sultry Ayesha Dharker in Santosh Sivan's Terrorist to Tulip Joshi in Dhokha is shedding plumes.
Om Puri says the terrorist can no longer be Bollywood's favourite villain. "We can't make provocative films on terrorism any more where we show terrorists as snarling villains. "
Om thinks even Neeraj Pandey's much-acclaimed A Wednesday featuring Naseeruddin Shah as a explosive mastermind was provocative.
"Imagine what they'd make of A Wednesday across the border! Now I think the time has come to soften the edges while portraying the terrorist. In Renzil's film, though I play a terror mastermind I'm not shown as an insane irrational madman. To understand why terror attacks happen we need to understand the terrorists' mind. My character in Renzil's film is an endeavour in that direction. "
The question is, how much re-writing would Karan Johar's next directorial venture My Name Is Khan about the isolation of the Indian Muslim (Shah Rukh) in the US post 9/11, require after 11/26?