From being followed by fans everywhere to getting wide media coverage, the filming of Bollywood film Kick, which stars Salman Khan and Jacqueline Fernandez, has generated a frenzy in the Polish capital.
Director Sajid Nadiadwala, who is shooting the film’s climax in Warsaw, had no idea of how people would react when he arrived in the city for the shooting.
Wherever he goes to shoot, a mixed crowd of Indians and Polish fans of Bollywood films follow him. They also chant “Salman, Salman” whenever the actor comes on the set.
Shooting has been in full swing for the past 10 days with Gazeta Wyborcza, the city’s largest newspaper, giving wide coverage to the shooting. It has put four journalists on the job.
Private Polish TV channel TVN is also giving extensive coverage to the Kick unit, which is expected to wrap up the shooting by the end of the month.
“The locales and natural scenic beauty would prompt Bollywood to select Poland for their outdoor shootings. The [production] cost is much cheaper and the civic authorities are cooperating generously. A city like Warsaw has more than 20 five-star hotels and there are 30 Indian restaurants. The stars and the crew can have food of their choice anytime of the day or night. Young Polish girls are ready to work as extras in item numbers,” wrote Michael Wojytczuk in Gazeta Wyborcza.
Anna Kalata, a former labour minister and vice president of the Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IPPCI) and J.J. Singh, the president of the IPPCI, believe that once the film releases and if it is a commercial success, many Indians may visit Poland as tourists — as happened in Spain after the release of Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara in 2011.
“Poland is changing fast and for the better. Cities like Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Poznan and Wroclaw have wonderful infrastructure. A city like Lodz has the world famous film institute where Andrezej Wajda, Krzystof Zanussi and many other famous directors had started their film training.
“Polish authorities are keen that Poland should be recognised as an important country internationally,” added Singh.
Meanwhile, Pawel, a Polish journalist, in his tongue-in-cheek style has offered a screenplay. He wants to use the same cast as Nadiadwala has in Kick.
In his proposed story, Khan will act as a chef in an Indian restaurant in Warsaw, and he will bail out a Sri Lankan illegal migrant Fernandez from a Pakistani terrorist, Randeep Hooda.
So far, neither Khan nor Nadiadwala have evinced any interest in the script. It seems they have enough on their plate as they want to release Kick by the end of July in time for Eid.
