JP Dutta's do or die schedule

Subhash K Jha

Recently, director J P Dutta's 40-odd actors were said to have fallen ill en masse in sub-zero temperatures of Leh where he shot his ambitious war epic, LOC.

"All lies," the movie mogul laughed away the rumours. "It was very cold, no doubt. But no one fell ill. All my boys from Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgan to Puru Raaj Kumar and Himanshu Malik encouraged me. When we reached Leh we were informed that the place had recorded the heaviest snowfall in the last 15 years. The weather was dismal. Since I didn't want to risk my team's health, I was toying with the idea of returning. To my surprise my actors dissuaded me. They wanted to start shooting right away. My crew gave me that extra encouragement which every filmmaker needs.

"Things began moving fast thereafter and we wrapped our Leh shooting ahead of schedule. Only a day's work with Ajay Devgan couldn't be completed because he wanted to return to Mumbai for Raj Kumar Santoshi's The Legend Of Bhagat Singh and I didn't want to stop him," he continues.

Meanwhile television star Amar Upadhyay who failed to turn up for the Leh schedule of LOC is back in the project. "Everyone including the Film Producers' Guild persuaded me to let him remain in the cast. Amar tendered his apology, so I took him back. I didn't want to jeopardise his film career at the outset."

The LOC team is now getting ready for the film's most crucial schedule in Ladakh where all the major war scenes will be shot. Says JP, "We leave for Ladakh at the end of May and shoot till August 10. This is my do or die schedule," the moviemaker puns with a laugh.

The Pakistani soldiers in the film will all be played by newcomers from television and theatre. As for the leading ladies, JP has still not finalised them. "Contrary to what people believe, the heroines have a very important role in the story. Anu Malik's songs have turned out so well that I need competent actresses to essay them on screen. I will decide on the female cast in October, after the Ladakh schedule."

The magnitude of this war epic, said to be the most expensive Indian film ever made, doesn't daunt JP. "What makes me nervous is the sheer economics of the project. With the movie business in a slump I don't know what to do."

The music rights and the film's overseas rights are supposedly still unsold.