I underwent one impossible day recently. Our movies editor had assigned me and Vivek Fernandes, a sweet colleague relatively new to the filmi glitzbiz, to "do an On The Sets".

For the uninitiated, an On The Sets involves spending a day watching the shooting of one movie or the other and then writing what went wrong, where, how, why etc etc...

Okay, that was not all true. If you want to know what it really is check out our section.

Anyway, our assignment was to cover Vidhu Vinod Chopra's highly ambitious venture Mission Kashmir. It starred Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Hrithik Roshan and Priety Zinta.

We were most certainly not the director's guest. Nor did we have an appointment with any of the stars. All we had was loads of youthful enthusiasm and determination. Is it still intact? I wonder. :(

The gatekeeper stopped our rickshaw at the entrance to Film City and questioned our intentions. I think we were quite unconvincing when we declared, "Hum press se hai." [We are from the press.]

Thankfully, the driver just drove in. We saw a shooting in progress. There was a man who looked like Hans Raj Hans, the upcoming Punjabi pop singer.

We didn't have any idea where the Mission Kashmir sets were. Film City, you see, is a huge place, a sprawling forest. You hardly find any people around. We finally managed to locate someone and he directed us to "near the lake."

Off we went on foot. We were told to "turn right at the cabin." We did. But, forget a lake, there was not even a pipe in the vicinity!

I guess we expected too much. I mean, you can't hope to see the Dal lake just because the film is titled Mission Kashmir, can you now?

There were some security personnel outside the sets. A talk with them elicited that only Hrithik was shooting and no press people were allowed in. My dream of interviewing the deadly Dutt and heartthrob Hrithik were going down the drain, fast.

But, ahem, Libran optimism is more steadfast than the Rock of Gibraltar. Hrithik was expected some two hours later. We decided to wait for him -- perhaps, when he drove up we could request him for a chat?

The sun was too cruel. Neither my colleague nor I carried any water. My mother had told me before I set off, "It will be extremely hot there, carry water." I hadn't bothered to listen. So here I was, sweating it out.

"At least you have a cap. I don't even have that! My head is burning," cribbed my colleague.

We decided to check on Hans Raj Hans. On our way, a golden brown Tata Sumo passed us. The face in the car was familiar. Ohhh!!! It was Hrithik!!!

We chased the car to a stop -- at least that's what we would like to believe. Unfortunately, by the time we panted to a halt beside the Sumo, the occupant had disappeared.

We found ourselves near the sets of Mohabatein. There weren't any stars, only 'Mogambo' Amrish Puri. Looked like there was no chance of our making it to Mission Kashmir. The smartest thing to do was, we told ourselves, wait near Hrithik's car.

We looked in through the window. There were quite a few 'sidey' English and Hindi cassettes. We had expected Hrithik to have better taste than that. I guess his character in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai was the reason why.

Suddenly we saw Hrithik coming out. We rushed towards him. As we drew closer I began to have my doubts, but my colleague insisted that it indeed was our man.

Alas, I was right! It wasn't Hrithik but Mukul Dev! Blame our weak eyesight for the blunder!

We did an about-turn, leaving the poor Dev in a state of confusion.

On the Hans Raj Hans site we came to know that the shoot was for an untitled film starring Sunil Shetty, Mukul Dev, Pooja Batra and Shakti Kapoor.

We also learnt that the man whom we took for the pop singer was none other than the film's director Sanjay Khanna!

We spotted Shetty chatting up some press-types and posing for pictures with toddlers. A scene followed and then -- cut! -- lunch break.

Back we went in search of Hrithik.

As we neared the Mission Kashmir sets we saw the truck carrying shooting equipment returning. Hrithik wasn't keeping well, the shooting had been cancelled.

That did it. That was the final straw. All we managed was get on the sets (well, we *did* get in where Sunil Shetty was shooting), out of the sets (Mohabatein) and no sets (Mission Kashmir)!

Sukanya Verma is highly allergic to Film City now.