Akash Bhatnagar (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 23, 2019)

Pulkit Samrat and Kriti Kharbanda, whose romance blossomed in London on the sets of their upcoming film, the Bhushan Kumar-produced multi-starrer comedy, Pagalpanti, reunited last week to shoot for a song in a city studio. The actor-couple was joined by co-stars Anil Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla.

According to a source close to the development, the yet-untitled song features the couple in colour-coordinated Middle Eastern-costumes. While Pulkit wore a heavily embroidered attire with hand chains and a neckpiece, his eyes streaked with kohl, Kriti was dressed in Badlah, an Egyptian folklore costume worn by belly dancers. “This dance number has an Arabic feel to it and the costumes were custom-made for the track,” adds the source.

Before the four-day shoot, the duo rehearsed their moves on the studio premises for two days. “This is Kriti’s first attempt at belly-dancing. She practiced for up to seven hours a day to match the professional belly-dancers who had been flown in from Qatar and Dubai,” the source reveals. The dance number, which also features over a hundred background dancers, is choreographed by Ganesh Acharya, while Nakash Aziz and Neeti Mohan have given playback.

The Anees Bazmee directorial is headlined by John Abraham and also features Ileana D’Cruz and Arshad Warsi.