Shraddha Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor get romantic in freezing Tehri as they interact with locals and sample bhang ki chutney and savour jhangora ki kheer
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 20, 2018)

It is eight degrees in the small town of Tehri in Uttarakhand and Shraddha Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor are shivering as they shoot in the local temples, on the Khatling glacier, at the Tehri lake and in the old world markets for director Shree Narayan Singh’s second directorial. The crew of the social-comedy-drama, Batti Gul Meter Chalu, is all bundled up and designer duo Neelanchal Ghosh and Darshan Jalan has given their actors enough jackets, shawls and beanies to ensure that they don’t freeze.

“Like our earlier film Toilet - Ek Prem Katha portrayed Mathura in all its different colours, Batti Gul Meter Chalu will showcase Tehri in its full glory,” asserts producer Prernaa Arora, admitting that the sequences presently being filmed are the “masala” portions before Shahid’s character lawyers up after he gets hit by some reel-life problems related to electricity.

The first schedule explores Tehri and its local culture with its lead pair breathing the romance of the hills. “At the heart of it, the film is a love story,” Prernaa explains, adding that her actors are doing all things local to get under the skin of their character, from eating bhang ki chutney and kumaoni raita to jhangora ki kheer prepared on charcoal grills. They have even ditched their fivestar rooms and opted for a home-stay. “We won’t be shooting any songs here, but two songs with be picturised in Nainital and Mussoorie each,” the producer points out.

Next week, Shahid will take a break from filming and head off to Delhi to join wife Mira and daughter Misha, along with his extended family. The actor turns 37 on February 25 with a satsang in the river town of Beas.

It’s all work and no play for Shraddha who has been doing the balancing act between Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK’s horror-comedy Stree, with Rajkummar Rao and Batti Gul Meter Chalu. The actress, who recently was in the Madhya Pradesh-town of Chanderi to shoot for Stree will also kick off Saaho soon. Juggle between the three roles, the actress has been maintaining three separate journals to make sure she is in sync with each character. Shraddha keeps the journals updated, referring to them every day as she switched on and off from one character to the next.