Priyanka mobbed Shahid comes to rescue

Not for the first time, Shahid Kapoor played the gallant protective co-star and friend to Priyanka Chopra. Remember how he had rushed to her rescue in a neighbourly show of solidarity when there was an income-tax raid at her home?

This time the number of people who swooped down on Priyanka was far larger…Approximately 40, 000 curious, eager, aggressive tourists and bystanders showed up to ogle, jostle and heckle in the backwater town of Aurangabad in Bihar.

It was a nightmarish experience for Priyanka and Shahid earlier this week when they descended on the dusty Bihar town to shoot a song at the Fort. The crowds were apparently uncontrollable and had to be warned off and threatened to back off.

Says an eyewitness, “The Aurangabad Fort has at any given time as many as 12, 000 visitors. Kunal Kohli couldn’t get permission to restrict the area. So he had to shoot with PC and Shahid with the fort open to the public. As news spread about the two stars shooting in Aurangabad, crowds swelled inside the fort to unmanageable numbers. ”

After a point during the shooting of the song, things began to get out of hand. Onlookers would repeatedly get into camera range, and when they were told to back off they became aggressive unruly and finally unmanageable.

This is where Shahid had to step in and make sure Priyanka was kept away from harm.

The larger nightmare for the actress was getting to the fort. The cars carrying Shahid, Priyanka and Kunal Kohli’s unit had to halt a good two miles away from the interior of the fort. There was no choice but to walk the rest of the way.



Says a source, “It was the longest walk of PC’s life. There were thousands of people forming a gauntlet as she along with Shahid and Kunal Kohli’s unit, made their way inside the fort on foot.

Of course there was an elaborate security bandobast. But how could 75 security personnel guarantee the behaviour of thousands of people? Anything could’ve happened. And several times during the long walk to the fort Shahid had to physically shield PC from advancing groups of hysterical fans. ”

Kunal Kohli tried to play down the whole experience. “We did have some difficulties. But it was all fine. The walk was tough. We had to go up to the foot of the fort on Tata Sumos and then there was no road, so we had no choice but to walk.

I’ve to say Priyanka is a very gutsy girl. We were all concerned about her security specially. But she was calm. Inside the Fort people just bought tickets and kept trooping in.

Yeah, we did have problems keeping them out of camera range and on a couple of occasions there were aggressive fans who tried to muscle in their way to get Shahid and Priyanka’s attention. I’ve to thank the local administration and my team for managing the shoot. ”

But Kohli’s troubles at Aurangabad are not over. Apparently fans and gawkers who had collected at the fort have taken pictures of Shahid and Priyanka shooting the song together and posted the pictures on micro- blogging sites, thereby giving away the pair’s carefully-guarded look.

Says Kunal Kohli, “The song is set in 1910 and we had worked hard on Priyanka and Shahid’s look. But the look is out on Twitter. How do you control fans from clicking pictures?

You can’t! You just have to bear with it. But I really don’t think the crowds in Aurangabad were doing anything they shouldn’t have. It was perfectly justifiable for them to get excited about two big stars in their small town.

The last star who shot in Aurangabad was Sunil Dutt more than thirty years ago. We tried to keep it a secret. But that was impossible. ”

Quips Kohli, “There was no really drastic rowdyism in Aurangabad. We leave that to Rowdy Rathore which comes into theatres a week before us in June. ”