The director's new film has apparently helped bring the crime rate down near the Indo-Pak border in Firozpur, where it's being filmed

Hindi films often show its lead actors coming to people's rescue. In a one of its kind situation, a film has actually turned saviour.

The law-enforcing authorities of Firozpur in North India have apparently discovered that a lot of unscrupulous activities that go on in the locality have reduced, thanks to Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's new film. The reason being the presence of a large number of people who belong to the film's unit, at the venue.

A well-placed source associated with the movie tells us that initially there were apprehensions about shooting at Firozpur, which is not too far off from the Indo-Pak border.

"Also, it is important to note that the due to the proximity to the border, the venue is constantly frequented by anti-social elements, who indulge in smuggling and drug-peddling," says our source, adding that the local authorities apprised them of the illegal activities that take place there, before granting them the permissions for the shoot.

However, after they camped there, on eve of the shoot that commenced on March 9 with Farhan Akhtar playing the legendary national athlete, Milkha Singh, the crew hasn't seen any suspicious activity around.

"So much so that when a couple of policemen dropped by during their rounds, they were surprised when we told them that we haven't seen even a trace of any illegal activity happening around," recalls our source.

Not instantly believing the unit guys, the cops suggested that the anti-social elements could take advantage of the presence of the 300-people unit for their nefarious activities.

"But we reiterated our stand to the police saying that we also had our security arrangement in place, to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

So it could be that the presence of guards around could be serving as a deterrent to the anti-social elements from indulging in their illegal activities," explained our source.

Mehra's spokesperson confirmed the same saying, "It's been only 48 hours since we started shooting, but the whole town is constantly buzzing due to our presence in their midst.

Some people were overheard saying that thanks to everyone's attention on the film shoot, no untoward incident has been reported or heard of."