By Satish Sharma
I think the year was 1998! Mobile phones had just arrived in Dehradun. To begin with, there were two players in town – Escotel and Ushafone. I was sitting with Arif, the head of Ushafone and I saw Sunil Saini, the Executive Producer of Pachisia Films, enter his office to pay the bill for actor Sunny Deol’s satellite phone. I had met the EP twice earlier during the recce for Arjun Pandit and had also met legendary Rahul Rawail, producer NR Pachisia, and others. The Assistant Director, Information (now retired), Dr Anil Chandola introduced us to these filmmakers.
A few days later, the then District Magistrate of Dehradun, PK Mahanty, who is a dear friend too called me and asked me to help Sunil Saini, who was sitting with him.
In the film Arjun Pandit, there was a sequence in which Sunny Deol was required to murder a villain before the interval of the film. For this sequence, Rahul Rawail required around 200 monks who would be chanting sitting on the stairs along the banks of the Ganga, where the fight and murder had to be captured. Saini told me that nobody was cooperating with them and the entire cast and crew had already arrived.
In this regard, the Director of Sakya College, Kuthalgate, the late Prof Khenpo Migmar Tsering, who was a dear friend, came to mind. I went to him with Saini, and he agreed for the first time to allow his students to participate, due to my friendship with him. Also, I apprised him how film shooting could benefit our town. At that time, we were part of UP. Later, Migmar died of cancer.
A week later, luxury buses were hired from Delhi for to-and-fro travel from Kuthalgate to Haridwar. NR Pachisia’s production was very good. They took great care of all the monks and provided them 4 good meals every day.
The shoot went well, and Director Rawail’s vision was captured beautifully. The entire unit were thankful for my intervention. Now, they wanted to reciprocate and offered me a minister’s role opposite Sunny Deol. At that time, I was fully involved in my newspaper and journalism. Also, being a second-generation journalist, I always thought that I was on a very high pedestal as a media person in comparison to other professions.
So, I humbly turned down the offer and introduced one of our theatre actor friends, Pradeep Hans from Meerut to the team. Hans played the Minister’s role opposite Sunny Deol and was thrilled and grateful.
The film Arjun Pandit was shot in Shivpuri, Rishikesh and Dehradun and released in 1999.
There was another interesting incident when the film was shot in Haridwar Road Prison (now shifted) and an influential hardcore criminal managed to come out of solitary confinement to see Sunny Deol, despite the presence of the SSP, Dehradun.
Finally, the shoot wrapped up and Sunil Saini called me and asked me to fill an amount in a cheque for my services. I humbly told him that I did it as a gesture of friendship, so there was no point in charging money.
Here I must mention that Sunil Saini, and NR Pachisia Films, were very professional towards the local people and among the best film people I have come across.
Later, when I ventured into films as an actor and film consultant, I met Saini after ages in Mumbai at Vijayeta Films’ office in Bandra, which was earlier Dharmendra Paaji’s residence. I told Saini that now I’m acting in films and do consider me in future projects. He laughed and reminded me of the Arjun Pandit movie incident when I was offered an important role, and I had refused to do it.
Now, I welcome the legendary actor, Sunny Deol, to my hometown once again with open arms. Also, I would like to welcome JP Dutta Sir, his team, and his daughter Nidhi. Our best wishes to them and welcome to the Abode of the Gods!
(The writer is Founder Publisher & Owner of Garhwal Post. Besides journalism and his newspaper, he is passionate about cinema and promotes Uttarakhand as a filming destination around the globe and has done around 30 mainstream movies, web-series, and one South Indian film. His newspaper and love for journalism are still his main identity.)
