Film/Stage
Hollywood Movie On bin Laden Take-Down Being Shot in Chandigarh, Patiala, Amritsar
TIMES OF INDIA
Chandigarh, Punjab, turned into Lahore on the evening of Wednesday, February 29, 2912, as director Kathryn Bigelow began shooting for " Zero Dark Thirty" ("ZD30") - a movie based on Osama Bin Laden's capture by US Navy Seals.
The Sector 15 market became Androon Lahore, complete with police vehicles bearing 'LRE' or 'LHR' on their number plates. Besides the boards with Urdu letters hanging over the shops and fruitsellers bargaining with burqa-clad ladies and men in skull caps, the team also replicated the kitschy design of Pakistani trucks.
The team renamed the shops as Kotli Call Centre, Regal Centre, Ayman Sundar Dukaan etc. Besides Sector 15 Market, some special sequences were shot at Manakpur Sharif mosque and the Punjab Engineering College.
The unit will be camping in Chandigarh and its bordering areas for more than 20 days.
"A special team in Pakistan is sharing information about the attire, shops, police vehicle designs, etc.," a source informed us.
The unit however can't shoot in Pakistan owing to strained relations and the sensitivity of the issue and so they are creating Rawalpindi and other parts of Pakistan in East Punjab.
Besides Chandigarh, the movie will also be shot extensively in Patiala and Amritsar. Some portions are to be shot in Delhi.
Bin Laden was shot and killed inside a private residential compound in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011 and, according to a source from the unit, "The research work for the film started no sooner than the announcement of the killing of Osama was made by U.S. President Barack Obama."
Armed with information and classified facts regarding the Abbottabad operation, Kathryn is doing everything to make things look real. The unconfirmed information is that the scene revolving around the dumping of Osama's body in the sea at the end might take place in Maldives or Sri Lanka. The director refused to talk to the media. However, we have information that the recent razing of the boundary wall of Osama's hideout in Abbottabad by Pakistani authorities might not feature in the movie.
Having recreated Androon Lahore in the Sector 15 market of the city, Kathryn and her unit will continue to shoot here for at least 10 days, before moving out to Patiala, and subsequently to Rajasthan, according to sources on the production site.
Staring Jessica Chastain, (who featured in the film "The Help"), Mark Strong, Aymen Hamdouchi and Kyle Chandler, "Zero Dark Thirty" is scheduled to release by the end of this year.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Kathryn Bigelow is a good filmmaker, and good Hollywood filmmakers are usually meticulous about creating an accurate back-drop in such situations.
Nevertheless, we need to be vigilant and make sure that the film does not inadvertently show Sikh turbans in the background, thus adding to the obvious issues we already have in the U.S.
This is where our esteemed institutions such as the Sikh Coalition, SALDEF and United Sikhs need to get involved at this early stage to make sure that Bigelow is cognizant of the issue. An intervention now will cost little and could prevent much distress later. If we wait until the film is out, complaining at that point will do little good, and any intervention then will cost the community a bundle.
Though all reports to date show that Bigelow is indeed being careful about depicting the backdrop and extras accurately, NOW is the time for our advocates to be invoved, albeit in a diplomatic manner, fully respectful of the artist's right to her own vision.
ALSO:
Reuters reports that "Hindu radicals in India protested on Friday (March 2, 2012) against the shooting of a film by Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow on the hunt for Osama bin Laden on the grounds that the film-makers were portraying Pakistan on Indian soil."
Sikhs should stay away from such silliness and not associate themselves with the knee-jerk, right-wing Hindu agenda, and concentrate on the only issue that concerns us.
March 7, 2012
Conversation about this article
1: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), March 07, 2012, 8:34 AM.
Very good point, Editor!
2: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), March 07, 2012, 10:21 AM.
This is quite interesting. Punjab is the same on both sides of the border, so it shouldn't be too difficult to transform Punjab's eastern cities into western ones. However, I assume that Chandigarh would be much closer in resemblance to modern districts in Lahore rather than any other city in Pakistan. I really hope that the director does not fuel the ignorance of Americans and pan over gurdwaras as mosques.
3: Kanwarjeet Singh (Franklin Park, New Jersey, U.S.A.), March 07, 2012, 2:04 PM.
Here is my e-mail written to each of those agencies. I hope all of the readers here can write to them and ask them to take action. I was unable to find the contact information for Ms. Bigelow but will keep working to determine the same. Please write and do your part. Kathryn Bigelow, the Hollywood director is making a movie about Afghanistan - "ZD30" - and this is being shot in Chandigarh and other parts of Punjab. Many Sikhs as well as I are very nervous as to what may end up being shown in this movie - that is, vis-a-vis Sikhs, who shouldn't be doubles for Muslims or Arabs. I would request that United Sikhs, along with SALDEF, Sikh Coalition, etc. get together and work directly with the movie director to make sure this does not end up being an ongoing cause of our troubles and mis-identification. In fact, it would be better if the said organizations can watch and review the film prior to it's release. A disclaimer or scene in the movie identifying Sikhs as seperate from Taliban, Muslims etc. would go to great lengths. I would request you to be proactive in this matter." Contact info for these organizations: unitedsikhs-usa@unitedsikhs.org, amar@sikhcoalition.org, media@sikhcoalition.org, info@sikhcoalition.org. Saldef will accept messages on their website at http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5227/signUp.jsp?key=2045 [EDITOR: A suggestion - please let our advocacy organizations handle the outreach. Individuals shouldn't be doing it.]
4: Harpreet Singh (Delhi, India), March 07, 2012, 3:12 PM.
A welcome suggestion. Sikhs are not portrayed correctly in films or advertisements, at least in India. I am unable to say any thing about the foreign media.