Seventy and stop

Priyanka Sharma (MID-DAY; August 12, 2024)

It’s almost pack-up time for Sunny Deol on Lahore 1947. On Tuesday, director Rajkumar Santoshi will call it a wrap on his period drama, which went on floors in Mumbai in February. Sources tell us that the actor-director duo had an intensive schedule that has brought them to the finish line.

“It has been a non-stop 70-day schedule. Over the last few weeks, the unit was shooting the climax, which involved an elaborate train sequence, at Film City,” says a source close to the production.

Backed by Aamir Khan, Lahore 1947 also stars Preity Zinta, Shabana Azmi, Karan Deol, Ali Fazal and Mithun Chakraborty. As soon as the shoot is completed on August 12, Santoshi will dive headlong into editing.

“There will be a few days of patch work, but the principal photography is almost done. They are on track for a January 2025 release. Raj-ji is excited about what he has been able to capture through the film. Besides the climax, he is particularly proud about how the ambitious crowd scenes have shaped up. The team had created two grand sets at Film City and Madh Island for the project,” says the insider.

While the movie marks Deol’s first collaboration with Khan, it is his fourth offering with Santoshi after Ghayal (1990), Damini (1993) and Ghatak (1996).