Showing posts with label Bishkek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bishkek. Show all posts
It’s a tough shoot due to the unpredictable weather conditions, local logistics-Rahul Mittra on Torbaaz
8:03 AM
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 21, 2018)
On May 10, Sanjay Dutt and Nargis Fakhri moved from Kyrgyzstan’s capital city of Bishkek to the interiors of Osh and Tokmok to film the drama-thriller, Torbaaz. Last week, they were shooting in Balykchy, near Lake Issyk-Kul, the world’s 10th largest lake. In the Girish Malik directorial, Sanjay plays a retired army officer who uses cricket to rehabilitate child suicide bombers in war-torn Afghanistan. His character briefly transforms into a ‘Chapandaz’, a professional Buzkashi player. In the Central-Asian sport, players on horseback try to hit a goat or calf carcass into the goal-post. The players are usually in their forties as the game requires years of practice. The sequence was shot in three days with professional trainers and Kokboru players doubling up as the supporting cast. The actors had practiced for 12- 14 hours every day before the shoot.
Rahul Mittra who’s producing the film with Raju Chadha, makes his acting debut as Colonel Yakub, a character in the Afghan army. “Sanju and Girish who were scouting for an actor finally told me that I had to do the role,” Mittra informs from Kyrgyzstan, where they’re shooting till June 2. “It’s a tough shoot because of the unpredictable weather conditions and local logistics. In the film the Afghan army is at loggerheads with the Taliban. My character becomes closely associated with Sanju’s ex-army officer and Nargis’s NGO worker and sets out on a mission to save the fidayeens – the young suicide bombers,” Mitra adds.
Sanjay’s joined by four boys from Kashmir, Baaz, Aishan Jawaid Malik, Khosh Bakht and Hamid Shafi, who play Afghans. One of them is responsible for the death of his parents. It took three-and-a- half months to finalise the child actors who had to look like Afghans and learn Pashto. They underwent a month-long workshop in Mumbai. Mittra too had to take Pashto and horse-riding lessons.
On May 10, Sanjay Dutt and Nargis Fakhri moved from Kyrgyzstan’s capital city of Bishkek to the interiors of Osh and Tokmok to film the drama-thriller, Torbaaz. Last week, they were shooting in Balykchy, near Lake Issyk-Kul, the world’s 10th largest lake. In the Girish Malik directorial, Sanjay plays a retired army officer who uses cricket to rehabilitate child suicide bombers in war-torn Afghanistan. His character briefly transforms into a ‘Chapandaz’, a professional Buzkashi player. In the Central-Asian sport, players on horseback try to hit a goat or calf carcass into the goal-post. The players are usually in their forties as the game requires years of practice. The sequence was shot in three days with professional trainers and Kokboru players doubling up as the supporting cast. The actors had practiced for 12- 14 hours every day before the shoot.
Rahul Mittra who’s producing the film with Raju Chadha, makes his acting debut as Colonel Yakub, a character in the Afghan army. “Sanju and Girish who were scouting for an actor finally told me that I had to do the role,” Mittra informs from Kyrgyzstan, where they’re shooting till June 2. “It’s a tough shoot because of the unpredictable weather conditions and local logistics. In the film the Afghan army is at loggerheads with the Taliban. My character becomes closely associated with Sanju’s ex-army officer and Nargis’s NGO worker and sets out on a mission to save the fidayeens – the young suicide bombers,” Mitra adds.
Sanjay’s joined by four boys from Kashmir, Baaz, Aishan Jawaid Malik, Khosh Bakht and Hamid Shafi, who play Afghans. One of them is responsible for the death of his parents. It took three-and-a- half months to finalise the child actors who had to look like Afghans and learn Pashto. They underwent a month-long workshop in Mumbai. Mittra too had to take Pashto and horse-riding lessons.
4 Kashmiri kids roped in to play Afghan characters in Sanjay Dutt-starrer Torbaaz
9:19 AM
Four
Kashmiri kids have been roped in to play Afghan characters alongside
Dutt’s ex-army man who helps rehabilitate them in a war-zone
Anil Raina and Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 2, 2018)
Sanjay Dutt, who kicked off Girish Malik’s upcoming direcorial Torbaaz in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek in December last year, has returned to the city and this time, the 58-year-old actor is joined by four young co-stars. Kashmir boys Baaz, Aishan Jawaid Malik, Khosh Bakht and Hamid Shafi have been roped in by the film’s team to essay the role of young suicide bombers in Torbaaz, one of whom is responsible for the death of Sanjay’s character’s parents. The film revolves around the actor’s ex-army man who turns to cricket to rehabilitate kids in war-torn Afghanistan.
“Sanjay has been enjoying the pleasant weather in Bishkek and has been playing cricket with the children on set in-between shots. The unit has been filming for 12-14 hours a day in Bishkek, which has been passed off as Afghanistan,” says Rahul Mittra, who is co-producing the lavishly-mounted project with Raju Chadha. “Sanjay loves kids and has bonded with his co-stars beautifully. On Monday, he arranged for a cake to celebrate the birthday of one of the kids,” Mittra adds.
It took the makers three and a half months to finalise the child actors because they had to learn Pashto for their turns. “Also, they had to resemble Afghans besides undergoing a monthlong workshop in Mumbai to understand their characters. In the film, the children are not initially comfortable around Sanjay, but warm up to him as the story progresses,” Mittra, who will join the unit in Bishkek on May 14, reveals.
The film will also be shot across the towns of Osh and Tokmok in Kyrgyzstan. On May 8, the unit will travel 220 km away from Bishkek to shoot for a week in Balykchy, the western end of Lake Issyk-Kul, situated at an elevation of about 1,900 metre. “Sanjay returns to Mumbai towards May-end and the schedule wraps up on June 3,” Mittra says.
Sanjay Dutt, who kicked off Girish Malik’s upcoming direcorial Torbaaz in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek in December last year, has returned to the city and this time, the 58-year-old actor is joined by four young co-stars. Kashmir boys Baaz, Aishan Jawaid Malik, Khosh Bakht and Hamid Shafi have been roped in by the film’s team to essay the role of young suicide bombers in Torbaaz, one of whom is responsible for the death of Sanjay’s character’s parents. The film revolves around the actor’s ex-army man who turns to cricket to rehabilitate kids in war-torn Afghanistan.
“Sanjay has been enjoying the pleasant weather in Bishkek and has been playing cricket with the children on set in-between shots. The unit has been filming for 12-14 hours a day in Bishkek, which has been passed off as Afghanistan,” says Rahul Mittra, who is co-producing the lavishly-mounted project with Raju Chadha. “Sanjay loves kids and has bonded with his co-stars beautifully. On Monday, he arranged for a cake to celebrate the birthday of one of the kids,” Mittra adds.
It took the makers three and a half months to finalise the child actors because they had to learn Pashto for their turns. “Also, they had to resemble Afghans besides undergoing a monthlong workshop in Mumbai to understand their characters. In the film, the children are not initially comfortable around Sanjay, but warm up to him as the story progresses,” Mittra, who will join the unit in Bishkek on May 14, reveals.
The film will also be shot across the towns of Osh and Tokmok in Kyrgyzstan. On May 8, the unit will travel 220 km away from Bishkek to shoot for a week in Balykchy, the western end of Lake Issyk-Kul, situated at an elevation of about 1,900 metre. “Sanjay returns to Mumbai towards May-end and the schedule wraps up on June 3,” Mittra says.
Back in Bollywood: Nargis Fakhri ends two-year hiatus; to play Sanjay Dutt’s love interest in Torbaaz
7:51 AM
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 11, 2017)
Next week, Nargis Fakhri is flying down from her Los Angeles home to Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyztan to start shooting for her upcoming Bollywood film, Torbaaz. The model-turned-actress, who moved back to the US right when her 2016 Ritesh Deshmukh-starrer, Banjo, was up for release, is now set for a comeback as a NGO worker Ayesha, who looks after war refugee kids in Afghanistan. She plays Sanjay Dutt’s love interest whose worldview changes after the stint and returns to her hometown with the sole purpose of helping rebuild Afghanistan after years of war and destruction.
Written and directed by Girish Malik, who made his debut with the 2014 drama Jal, the action-thriller highlights young children who are trained to become suicide bombers. After Jal, which bagged the National Film Award for Best Special Effects, Girish had been toying with this idea for the last three years.
“Nargis is playing the parallel lead and has already begun taking language classes in LA for Pushto and Dari, both of which she will be using extensively,” says Rahul Mittra, who is co-producing the film with Wave Cinemas’ Raju Chadha. One of Mittra’s protégés had taken up Nargis’s work in India and informed him that she was arriving in Mumbai for a short trip. “We met at Girish’s suburban home two weeks ago. Nargis was tired and jetlagged but the meeting went great and she immediately gave her nod after hearing the story. She will stun everybody with her dialogue delivery in this film,” Mittra adds.
On Tuesday, the producer takes off to Kyrgyztan with Sanjay to kick of the film’s first schedule which will run through Christmas and New Year’s Eve. “We will start in Bishkek and travel along the Silk Route through Central Asia. The film will feature different terrains and we will be shooting through the biting cold in difficult locations that have never been tapped by Bollywood before,” Mittra informs.
On November 30, Mirror had reported that Nargis’s latest visit to Mumbai had sent rumour mills into an overdrive with reports of reconciliation and a subsequent wedding with former flame Uday Chopra. While the actress’s spokesperson had denied the news, revealing that she was in the Maximum City for an upcoming collaboration with American rapper Snoop Dogg, Nargis had dropped by Yash Chopra’s Juhu bungalow for a few hours, during which she met with Uday and his mother, Pamela Chopra, with whom she remains close even after the break-up. And now we know, she was also gearing up for her Bollywood comeback.
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