B-town’s found a new Kashmir in Manali

Salman Khan, Sunny Deol, Subhash Kapoor, among others have found their fave destination for shoots.

Owing to the Valley’s perennial restive state, Manali has emerged as the new go-to filming destination for Bollywood. After wrapping up the Ladakh schedule of Tubelight, Salman Khan proceeded to Manali for the second schedule with director Kabir Khan, brother, Sohail Khan and fellow actors Om Puri and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub. They were to shoot in Kashmir earlier but the continuing curfew and terror attacks led to them shifting base for two months. The film is set during the 1962 Sino-Indian war and features Chinese actress Zhu Zhu.

Salman is making the most of his time in picturesque Himachal. He went river-rafting on Monday with his team in Raison, a small village on the banks of river Beas. “This schedule will go on till October-end with Salman shooting for several emotional and confrontational scenes, some of them with Zeeshan who plays a grey character. But there aren’t too many action scenes. The team is having a blast, filming through rain and sunshine, the highlight being Bhai’s delicious dabba which he shares with everyone,” a source informs.

Bhai’s not alone in Manali. Sunny Deol is there on a recee for his next directorial which will launch his elder son Karan. He is accompanied by younger son Rajvir and will be stationed there till October 7. The film, set in Manali, is expected to roll by the beginning of next year. Sunny had told Mirror in an interview (Nov 7), “It's a love story but will have action too.”

Meanwhile, Ashwini Chaudhary who is set to direct Sunny in a film that revolves around an emotional father-son relationship paid a quick visit to the 58-year-old actor in Manali to narrate the final draft of the script. The filmmaker returned to Mumbai on Wednesday.

Another writer-director Subhash Kapoor is also there, scouting for locations for Jolly LLB 2. The film was being shot with Akshay Kumar and Huma Qureshi in Lucknow till recently. Buzz is, Subhash too had wanted to shoot in Kashmir earlier but then changed his mind. He will be in Manali for three-four days.

Actors Manoj and Seema Pahwa are also at the holiday destination conducting an acting workshop. “They are having a blast, practising yoga and cooking with the students. Om Puri also paid a surprise visit, the workshop is expected to end on September 25,” the source reveals.

And while Sallu's spending time with the local kids, clicking pictures with fans, the others have managed to catch up with each other. “Zeeshan met up with Ashwini and so did Manoj and Seema. It was like a mini reunion away from home,” the source concludes.