The shooting of Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor’s much awaited action-thriller flick ‘Agent Vinod’ seems to have come to a standstill. The reason being, Saif’s production unit reportedly tampered with the heritage structures at the historical village of Kuldhara, Rajasthan while making arrangements for the shooting of the film. Apparently, the crew members had defaced the ancient site by painting its old heritage walls and applying cow dung to make it look older for shooting the climax of the film. As a result of which, Rajasthan Government refused to give permission to resume the shooting in the village. Moreover, three of the crew members had been under arrest. On hearing the news, Saif immediately apologized to the Rajasthan Tourism, Art, Culture and Archaeology Minister Bina Kak.
“Saif Ali Khan approached me and apologized for the act of his production staff that defaced the ancient site by painting its old heritage walls and applying cow dung to make it look older still for shooting the climax of the film at Kuldhara. I had told him that the film unit will have to face the penal action and will also have to pay a fine under Rajasthan Monuments, Archaeological Sites and Antiquities Act-1961 and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act,” informed Rajasthan tourism, art, culture and archaeology minister Bina Kak.
However, when contacted, Saif had different version to tell, “There has been a misunderstanding. We set up an expensive set and we thought we had all the permissions. Our line producer told us that all that we did was allowed. We had been creating the set for ten days and no one told us anything. It is a huge set and I wish someone had said something earlier and not come at the last minute. In this entire bargain, we have lost a lot of money and time… We aren’t stupid to deliberately destroy heritage property.”
He further added, “Binaji has been of great help. She wants things to happen properly and she has helped us in getting other locations in Rajasthan. We will shoot at an alternate location. People in the cultural ministry have been very helpful.”
The place in question Kuldhara, was supposed to be presented as a Pakistani village at the climax of the film. Directed by Sriram Raghavan , ‘Agent Vinod’ is set to release in 2012.