by Subhash K Jha

Sometimes, a film gets into a crisis at the most inopportune moment. It happened with Deepa Mehta's Water. She was prevented from shooting her film on the widows of Varanasi, in Varanasi, and had to shift location to Sri Lanka.

Madhur's problem isn't that insurmountable. He needs to shoot one of the film's most critical sequences in a bottling plant for aerated drinks.

The film based on a cola war between two corporate organisations headed by Rajit Kapoor and Raj Babbar, is now nearly complete.

"But some critical sequences need to be shot. And yes, the one in a bottling plant is absolutely essential. Unfortunately we're having eleventh-hour problems with the permission to shoot." This time Bhandarkar isn't willing to compromise. "The budget for Corporate is almost twice that of Page 3.

It's easy for critics and members of a jury (Screen Awards almost completely ignored Page 3) to comment on the production values of Page 3. Do they know what we had to go through to put the film together at a budget of 2.5 crores?

This time I'm not cutting corners. We've shot all of the film at authentic locations and on credible sets. The sequence in the bottling plant will be shot where it's meant to," says a determined but disturbedBhandarkar.

"The only problem is that Kay Kay , Bipasha, Sammir Dattani, Minissha Lamba and the rest of the cast are all busy artistes. It may be tough getting their combination dates again. But I won't compromise," he adds.

So until the bottling plant relents, Corporate would just have to cool its heels. Presently, the director is spending time in editing and post-production work. "My last schedule begins next week. I hope to solve the ‘bottle'neck by then."