In Delhi with Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke
It is a cold morning and we are in Delhi to cover Deepak Shivdasani’s new film Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke. The venue is New Friends Colony’s Mata Ka Mandir and the artistes involved, Madhuri Dixit, Ajay Devgan and Vikram Gokhale. They are shooting the wedding scene between Madhuri and Ajay. The pheras over, Vikram Gokhale blesses them and strange as it seems, Madhuri takes out her mobile phone and talks to a friend. The director explains that Madhuri is suffering from selective amnesia in the film. ‘She was in love with another man, marries Ajay and is often haunted by faint memories of the past.’ What about Ajay, does he have a past too? ‘All men have a past...’, informs Shivdasani laughingly. ‘But it would be unfair if it interfered with the present.’ Few more shots of the same scene and the unit breaks for lunch. This is the first time that the temple Trustees have given permission to a film unit to shoot inside the temple and Shivdasani is flattered that he is the chosen one. ‘I believe that if you go about your work honestly, God blesses you and my shooting in this pious place is a proof of that.’
Evening, the director has organised a press conference after pack-up and the stars are in a good mood. Preity Zinta is feeling under the weather because she has a wisdom tooth coming up. ‘I’m finally growing up,’ she smiles at us. Madhuri Dixit is accompanied by her parents. Sporting a new hair cut, she says, she is playing a woman who lives in her own world, which is not difficult for her as she is exactly the opposite in real life. The final line comes from Ajay Devgan. ‘My character has two shades of romance, I’m involved with Preity Zinta before marriage and with Madhuri Dixit after marriage.’ On that witty note, the press meet is adjourned and everyone heads for the bar.