Barfee: Sukna gets a taste of Barfee - Director back with Priyanka and Ranbir

Siliguri, Feb. 16.TT: Anurag Basu kept his promise and came back with Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor to shoot in Sukna today.

The Life in a Metro maker had said he would return with the entire Barfee team after the hills apologised for the spat that his crew had with some local people at the Mall.

For residents of Khairani-Punding, this was their second tryst with high-profile visitors after chief minister Mamata Banerjee had sauntered into the village while sightseeing at nearby Mahananda wildlife sanctuary when she came to sign the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration agreement in July.

Basu had also chosen to shoot in a house above the one in which Mamata was treated to a cup of tea during her visit.

Unaware of the arrival of the Barfee team, 27-year-old Sharmila Rai had started her day with her usual chores at 6am. Around 7.30am she saw “a few unfamiliar faces” setting up cameras outside a house a few yards away.

“I was surprised to see unfamiliar faces moving around in our neighbourhood with cameras so early in the morning. When I enquired, a group of local people who had gathered there told me that Priyanka and Ranbir would be shooting,” said Sharmila who quickly wound up her chores to watch the shooting from 9am.

The story of the film is set in Darjeeling of 1960’s and 70’s.

It revolves around a deaf-and-mute man, played by Ranbir and the two women in his life, played by Priyanka and southern star Ileana D’Cruz.

The news of the shooting was kept under wraps to avoid chaos like the one that took place when the team was shooting for the first time in Darjeeling in June last year. During the earlier visit, only Ileana and Ranbir had come to Darjeeling.

“The director had come to our village to scout for locations earlier this month. The news of the shoot was kept a closely guarded secret to avoid a crowd here. Only a few of us chosen as volunteers were aware of it and had been making arrangements,” said a volunteer from the village which has barely 100 households.

Priyanka who was in Siliguri last night arrived in Sukna, 12km away, around 8.30am. Ranbir landed at Bagdogra around 10.30am today and reached the shooting spot in the afternoon.

The first scene shot was of a woman weaving brooms outside the house.

Next, Priyanka sporting a white frock with red sweater and Ranbir in a check coat and brown pants were shot arriving at the house in a rickshaw.

“She looks as good as in the movies,” said 21-year-old Sovit Sharma, a resident of Khairani-Punding.

Villagers had volunteered to manage the crowd and adequate combat force, too, was present. Diksha Rai, a college student, first waited for Ranbir at the Bagdogra airport and then came to the shooting site to catch a glimpse of Priyanka.

“A group of us got to know that Ranbir would be arriving at Bagdogra airport. We were lucky that he agreed to pose for a photograph with us. I have already posted it on a social networking site. We also visited the shooting spot later and saw Priyanka too. It was a hectic trip but was worth it”, Diksha said.