National Award-winning Srijit Mukherji's Partition drama, Begum Jaan, toplined by Vidya Balan, kicked off around two weeks ago in Jharkhand. The team has been shooting in a remote village for long hours with the weather playing truant and this is taking its toll on the leading ladies who play sex workers cooped up in a house which stands bang in the middle of the newly-drawn up LOC between India and Pakistan. Mirror has learnt that a couple of said actresses have taken ill and one of them, Raviza Chauhan, even had to be hospitalised.

“Raviza was given the day off but instructed to report on the sets the next day for shooting of the climax sequence. Some of the others have suffered fainting spells but as soon as they lurch back, they are held up by ADs and made to face the camera. A few more are laid low by viral fever but are still working. Shooting starts every day from 6 am and continues till post midnight, leaving little scope for rest. Vidya is the only one who has been keeping regular working hours,“ says a source from the sets. Producer Vishesh Bhatt chose not to respond to our text but director Srijit maintained that all's well with his debut Bollywood film and these are but minor hiccups, “Raviza has not been hospitalised. The sodium potassium level in her blood fell suddenly because of which her head was swimming for an hour. The doctor on the set attended to her and she recovered within an hour and we were soon back to shooting with her. The schedule has not been easy because of the erratic weather - scorching one moment and rainwashed the next. But we are braving along,“ he asserted.