A NORTH Indian marketplace was earlier this week turned into the main bazaar of the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad by Oscar-winning film-maker Kathryn Bigelow.
The director is shooting a film on Osama bin Laden, who secreted himself near Abbottabad for almost five years. It has the working title Zero Dark Thirtyor ZD30.
The Manimajra bazaar in Chandigarh, 240km north of New Delhi, was transformed to resemble the bazaar in the hill town of Abbottabad near the Afghan border, where bin Laden was hunted down and killed by US Navy Seals last May.
The Pakistani authorities, still prickly after the surreptitious strike on bin Laden by the US military, had denied Bigelow permission to shoot her film in Abbottabad.
Earlier this week they demolished bin Laden’s house, which is near the country’s only military training academy, to prevent it becoming a memorial to the Islamist terrorist.
Media reports quoting Bollywood sources in Mumbai indicated that Bigelow and her co-producers, Mark Boal and Megan Ellison, were apprehensive about shooting in Pakistan owing to security issues and opted for India instead as the topography and “look” were similar.
In Chandigarh, Urdu shop signs and extras wearing Pathan caps, Frontiersmen shalwar pants and knee-length shirts helped to transform the marketplace into a Pakistani one.
The Ramgarhia hardware store named after its Sikh owner, for instance, became the “Shahzad Hardware and Paint Store” with an Urdu signboard, while internet cafes, restaurants and shops were also given Pakistani names.
Colourful motifs were painted on to a nearby parked bus to make it look like one from across the border and Bigelow’s unit even put fake Pakistani number plates on all vehicles parked in the bazaar.
However, many shop owners who found their marketplace transformed into a mini Pakistan were not supportive either of the filming crew or its frantic day-long activity.
“I was surprised to find the board of my shop changed and our entire market remained out of bounds for people, because of which we had no customers or business,” said Parmanan Sariya, whose sari store was turned into the Farhan Meat and Chicken Shop.
Bigelow, who won an Oscar for best director in 2010 for The Hurt Locker, a depiction of a bomb disposal expert who becomes addicted to the dangerous excitement of his job, expects to release the film on bin Laden by the end of the year.
She is expected to shoot additional market and crowd scenes in the nearby city of Patiala before moving on to the Rajasthan desert for the remaining part of the filming.
Unconfirmed reports said Hollywood star Brad Pitt was expected to arrive in India to participate in the shooting.