On Thursday, as actor Brad Pitt also joined the team for shooting in a mosque in nearby Manimajra town, the director made sure that the ambience resembled one in Pakistan.
The first woman to win the Academy award for the best director, Kathryn Bigelow, has recreated the Pakistan’s garrison town of Abbottabad here as she has started filming the movie chronicling last days of Osama Bin Laden tentatively christened Zero Dark 30.
On Thursday, as actor Brad Pitt also joined the team for shooting in a mosque in nearby Manimajra town, the director made sure that the ambience resembled one in Pakistan.
City’s sector-15 sported billboards in Urdu and was populated with hordes of women donning burqas, men in shalwar-kameez, chappals and skullcaps, auto-rickshaws with Lahore number plates were seen plying to give a feel of Pakistan as Kathryn shot at the local Punjab Engineering College as Osama had a degree in civil engineering degree from King Abdul Aziz University.
A bus could also be seen with Pakistani decorations, bright colours and motifs, jhoomers and lights. Outside the shops stood rehriwallas and hawkers in the typical clothes of Pakistani Punjabis.
The crew, keeping the plot under wraps, is shooting the story of Osama being hunt down by the US commandos.
With US-Pakistan relations strained, Bigelow could not shoot in Pakistan where the infamous Abbottabad building was razed over the weekend.
The shops hired for the shoot were suitably transformed. An internet cafe was ‘Kotli call centre’. It reads ISD and PCO booth, ‘Regal Centre’ is ‘Shahi Yunani Dawa Khana’ and Ramgarhia Hardware store has become ‘Shahzad Hardware and Paint Store’.
The shooting which is going on here for last week or so would is expected to continue over a month. The cast and crew would also be visiting other parts of the state for shooting purpose.
Some Hollywood actors, including Jessica Chastain, are expected to be here for the shooting of the film. A local production company has gathered over 100 artistes for the crowd scene. Sources said the film may be released at the end of this year.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}