/> Scholar-filmmaker Chandraprakash Diwedi who has earlier made that erudite serial on Chanakaya and Pinjar that evocativee feature film on the Indian Partition, is no stranger to controversies.

His new film Mohalla Assi based on the renowned Hindi work of literature Kashi Ki Assi by Kashinath Singh has run itself into controversies even before reaching the story's heartland Varanasi.

Apparently Diwedi known to be a stickler for details has shot a major portion of the film with Sunny Deol, "daring" to recreate Varanasi in the studios of Mumbai. The artistic licence has the purists from Uttar Pradesh who look on the novel as inviolabe and sacrosanct, fuming in protest.

But Diwedi says he had no choice but to shoot portions of the film in Mumbai for security reasons. Sunny Deol's security.

Says the director, "Ideally we'd have liked to shoot the film completely where it is located on the ghats of Varanasi. But we never knew Sunny was so popular in the region. Thousands and thousands of fans descended on location to see him.

It was impossible to shoot.The last time Sunny shot in Varanasi was for Rajkumar Santoshi's Ghatak 15 years ago. And that was just a few sequences. His popularity has not waned at all in Varanasi."

Hang on! Didn't Sunny shoot for Samir Karnik's Yamla Pagla Deewana in Varanasi? So we were told repeatedly. Diwedi lets the cat out of the bag. "No Yamla Pagla Deewana was shot in a place called Maheshwari which resembles the ghats of Varanasi in every detail.We will be the first crew to shoot a Hindi film in the heart of Varanasi.

Even Anurag Kashyap who was in the region recently shooting for Gangs Of Wasseypur shot a little distance away from Varanasi."

Sunny now leaves for Varanasi under strict security bandobast.

Informs Diwedi, "We only shot the interior sequence of Varanasi in the studios of Mumbai. All the outdoor sequences will now be shot in Varnasi under the strict supervision of the local government's security arrangements."

Apparently Mayawati who likes Sunny Deol's films, has assured the star of all necessary security.

"We expect at least 3, 000 people to turn up to watch Sunny shoot on the ghats every day. We're prepared to handle the crowds, " says Diwedi confidently.