Defending Shah Rukh Khan

Viveck Vaswani is a happy man. His Dulha Mil Gaya, which has been in the making for around 1 and a half years now, is fast nearing the finishing mark. The film would be more than 90% through this week as a marathon 20 day schedule comes to a close. In fact in the days gone by, the crew has already shot a substantial portion of the film in Panchgani, Vashi and Pune.

Says Viveck in a relaxed tone, "Over the months there have been media speculations around the completion of Dulha Mil Gaya. It was amusing since more than me they seemed to be worried about the film. There were all kinds of stories circulating around the so-called troubles that the film was facing but my only response to them was - 'Keep Speculating'."

But weren't there murmurs around Shahrukh Khan being the cause of film's delay? Apparently, he wasn't too willing to spare his dates for the film even as he was busy keeping his other commitments.

"Even I read about this but again, as I said, all this was plain speculation and a wrong one too", smiles Viveck, "Any big film would take its own sweet time to be completed. Yes, there were minor issues but none of them had anything to do with Shahrukh Khan. He never created problems for Dulha Mil Gaya. My father was unwell for quite some time and I was busy there. He expired some time back and after a mourning period, I resumed work on the film."

Questioning those who have been spreading false stories about SRK being uncooperative, Viveck challenges back, "Have you read any news piece where Shahrukh himself has quoted anything about being unhappy with DMG? We interact on a regular basis and he has never opened his mouth against the film. Yes, there have been instances where he has been busy but that's understandable. It is a professional thing to do. I don't see any reason why it should be considered as a scoop enough?"

So when do we see SRK's scenes being canned? "This week the film would be more than 90% complete and only a few scenes with SRK remain to be canned", informs Viveck, "There are 7 songs in the film and 6 have already been shot. One song with SRK remains and we can shoot for it anytime in August, September or October, whenever his dates permit."

"We are not in hurry because the technicians at our production house are already on the job. They are keeping busy with the post production and making sure that the end product turns out to be good. It isn't as if the office is running all these years on a film which has been supposedly stalled. Sorry to disappoint a few, but we all are quite charged about Dulha Mil Gaya and making sure that it turns out to be the most talked about film", says Viveck in an excited tone.

So the million dollar question is, when does Dulha Mil Gaya eventually release? "Approximately we are eyeing a January 2009 release. Things are going as per the plan and I don't see any reason why we shouldn't be able to make it on that day", concludes Viveck.

One India