Plex shut, locals fail to watch film shot in Hills

Priyanka Dasgupta| TNN | Jul 17, 2017,  KOLKATA: After `Barfi', when Anurag Basu had returned to Darjeeling and Mirik in April 2016 for six days to shoot `Jagga Jasoos' (JJ), locals were hopeful that the Bollywood director's film would promote the Hills as both a tourist and film-location destination.

Cut to July 2017. The unrest in the Hills has forced the shutdown of the lone multiplex in Darjeeling. Locals associated with the film couldn't even watch it. With phone connectivity being hit, they are not even getting the chance of finding out how much of what was shot in Darjeeling has been retained in the final edit of the movie.

In April last year, a crowd had turned up to watch Ranbir Kapoor shoot at Chowrasta. Dressed in a grey pullover, the Bollywood star was spotted shooting at five in the morning for a song on Mall Road. A few hours later, he was made to wear a blue jacket and a pair of green pants for a fight sequence where he grabbed a person by the collar and handed him over to police. More excitement was in store when the crew started shooting on the premises of the St Paul's School.Many had then questioned why Ranbir was spotted in a green blazer when that's not the actual colour of the school uniform.

Tollywood actor Saswata Chatterjee had shot with Ranbir in Mirik. To highlight Ranbir's expertise as a `jasoos' (sleuth), the film has a segment where he solves the mystery of Clock Tower. Shot at the Clock Tower and St Paul's School, this segment is supposed to be a major attraction for the locals.

Bablu Banerjee of Cine Solutions, who is the line producer of the film in the Hills, said: "We have worked in the film and want to see how that and other scenes with Ranbir look on the big screen. Because of the unrest, the multiplex is shut."

Industry insiders always refer to the Darjeeling Inox property as unique because it's the only multiplex that doesn't need an air conditioner. "Because of the weather conditions there, we don't have any ACs in this multiplex with three auditoriums. We don't know when normalcy will return. It could be in August or even six months later. But whenever that is, we will run a film that will be the most relevant at that time. There is little chance of `JJ' being screened then," said Subhasish Ganguly , regional director (east), INOX.