Abu Dhabi has been taking bold steps recently to develop its film industry production facilities and Bollywood directors have been quick to take advantage. Partner was partly filmed there and now Lara Dutta is back there filming for Do Not Disturb – and she loves it:
“This place is like a lucky mascot as my last release also had many portions shot here and it turned out to be a super-hit. We have been shooting at the Emirates Palace hotel and you just got to see the hotel to believe how wonderful it is. Abu Dhabi has become the new Switzerland.”
After Abu Dhabi, the crew moved on to Dubai where they had a little more difficulty. Dubai has recently rolled out new rules demanding that scripts be submitted first before permission is given to shoot – this is intended to cut down on the cheap sex comedies that have been filmed there in the past. In the case of Do Not Disturb, the script had failed to be submitted. The authorities were prepared to waive the rules as it was clearly a legitimate production but David Dhawan, who approves of the new rules, was prepared to wait until formal permission had been granted. There was then a little difficulty when the crew began to shoot in a residential area doing a loud street item number. Some of the residents complained and the police had to hurry along motorists who were blocking the road by stopping to watch the filming.
Meanwhile, Lara has recently been lending her voice to the animation film Jumbo:
“Yes it is true that I have dubbed for Jumbo,” she explains, “Akshay Kumar asked me to see the film and then decide if I wanted to do it. I saw it and thought that it was a very sweet film. So, I dubbed for it. Jumbo is my gift to my junior audience. It is my first animation film and so I did not want to charge for it.”
Lara is one of the busiest actors in Bollywood at the moment. She is said to look simply ravishing in Blue and she also has lined up
