'Firang' trouble in 'desi' film

Background dancers of foreign origin, who stay and work in Bollywood, recently turned rebellious against film-maker Vashu Bhagnani.

The trouble began when Vashu hired 350 foreign-origin background dancers from Pune to shoot a lavish dance sequence for his forthcoming film Do Knot Disturb. This irked the dancers residing in Mumbai and they threatened to boycott the shoot saying they would not allow non Mumbai foreigners to grab their share of the pie.

There are about 450 foreign background dancers in Mumbai who earn their living from Bollywood.

A source says, “The foreign-origin dancers from Mumbai refused to work because they saw foreigners from another city brought in. The song needed 800 foreigners. So people had to be brought in from other cities. Pune was the best option because many foreigners reside there.”

The source adds, “The situation almost got out of hand. We all thought a major fight would ensue. Vashu was not present on the sets when all this was happening. As soon as he got news of it, he rushed to the sets and explained the situation to the people thereby restoring normalcy.”

The confusion began because the foreigners from Mumbai questioned why people from Pune were needed when about 450 dancers were already present in Mumbai. Vashu brought the situation under control by explaining that these people were hired just for one song. He also showed  the relevant documents.