'Lamhaa' producer, director differ over snowfall

Mumbai, Dec 16 (IANS) The producer and the director of 'Lamhaa' had a difference of opinion on shooting a scene - while Rahul Dholakia wanted to recreate the snow-capped Kashmiri mountains in Film City by using salt, Bunty Walia insisted on doing it on location.

According to a source, Bipasha Basu had to do a tough action scene on the location depicting the zigzagging streets of Kashmir in Film City.

'It's a well-known fact that the salt effect to create snow on screen is far more effective than real snow which tends to obstruct the camera. So yes, I ordered salt for the scenes with Bipasha,' Dholakia told IANS.

Apparently, a truck of salt was ordered to create snow at Film City. But Walia put his foot down.

Walia said: 'Yes, I stopped the truck with salt because I was against the snow idea. See, how do we match the real snow in Kashmir with the artificial snow when we return to Kashmir in January and in any case how can we be sure it'd be snowing in Kashmir when we return there? How would we ensure continuity with the scenes we shoot on Film City?'

Reluctantly Dholakia shot without the truckload of snow.

'It's very important to return to Kashmir at any cost. I need to take my cast and crew to shoot the Dal Lake. That cannot be recreated in Film City. Happily for me, Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha and Kunal Kapoor agree with me. So we'll return to Kashmir to capture as much authenticity as possible,' said Dholakia.