Sunday evening Varanasi media got to interact with the cast of movie Mohalla Assi. Present on the dais was Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi (director), Dr. Kashinath Singh (novelist), Vinay Tiwari (producer), Sunny Deol, Sakshi Tanwar, Ravi Kishen and Saurabh Shukla.
Mohalla Assi, commenced their shooting in Varanasi after the press conference. Major portions of the film have been shot in Mumbai studios on sets that “recreate” the city of Banaras. The movie is positioned on a famous and historical locality on the southern end of Banaras and the River bank of Ganges. The film has been inspired by a popular hindi novel “Kashi Ka Assi” written by Dr. Kashinath Singh.
Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi who is directing the film explains, “Ideally I would have loved to shoot the entire movie on the ghats of Varanasi, but since Sunny has a huge fan following in this region, it would have got impossible to shoot there as thousands of fans would descend on location to catch a glimpse of the super star.”
For the first time Sunnyji will be seen in a completely new avatar. He will be donning the full garb of a pundit, all the way from the typical dhoti, kurta, gamcha, kolhapuri chappals down to the ‘choti’ on his head. Talking about his role in the film Sunnyji says excitedly, “The script of the film is very interesting especially my role which is something that I have not played earlier. My look will do full justice to the character. Its always a pleasure to shoot in Varanasi. This film will bring me back to the city after 15 long years and I am sure that I will have a wonderful time shooting.”
Mohalla Assi has the story, the plot, the characters from Kashi Ka Assi, the novel, which are deeply rooted in the soil of Assi and Varanasi and above all its a satire reflecting the social, political, national issues in this unique city of Banaras. The movie is slated to release in the second half of 2011. The film is produced by Vinay Tiwari of Crossword Entertainment PVT LTD.
