Actor Pankaj Kapoor (on scooter) during the shoot of the movie ‘Jersey’ at Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh. (Express Photo by Nitin Sharma)
On Monday early evening, as regular joggers apart from athletes started their training session at the jogging track and the road adjoining the track at Sukhna Lake began their running session, the athletes faced frequent breaks during their running session with the shooting of Shahid Kapoor-starrer movie Jersey happening on the road near the newly opened gallery at watch tower.
With Shahid’s father Pankaj Kapoor, who plays the role of Shahid’s mentor in the movie, driving a vintage scooter on the 100m stretch of the road during the shoot and Shahid Kapoor too present, tourists were also not allowed to go near the 400m area with more than 50 crew members apart from 15 private bouncers present at the lake for more than two hours. While the bouncers allowed some athletes and tourists to walk on the jogging track after they protested, most of the joggers and tourists were told to walk on the side path near the stairs during the shooting session which lasted for more than two hours.
“We come to train here daily and we wee stopped by the bouncers midway during our practice run and they told us to use the sidewalk near the stairs. After we protested, the bouncers allowed us to use the jogging track. But again on our return, when the shooting of one scene was happening, they told us to not talk and use the side-walk. We do 2-3 runs of the whole track in the evening and such stops hamper our rhythm,” said 20-year-old Abhi Raj Singh who comes to train daily at the lake. Singh’s fellow athlete Mayank Aggarwal was also stopped multiple times. “When some of the joggers asked the bouncers to show the permission to stop the road and jogging track, the bouncers did not show. A lot of athletes and golfers come here to run and such things should happen without causing any inconvenience to the general public,” shared Aggarwal.
The shooting of the Gowtham Tinnanuri’s directorial venture Jersey, which is a remake of 2019 Tamil movie of the same name, had started in Chandigarh in January and the crew had shot at Sector 7 and Sector 22 in Chandigarh earlier. The movie crew also had put more than eight vintage looking lamp posts on the 400m stretch of the road. The shooting also meant that tourists had to use the side walk as bouncers did not let them to use the road. While some of the regular joggers passed the road amid the shooting break, tourists were seen using the side walk. “We had come from Patiala to visit Sukhna lake and we wanted to click pictures with the watch tower gallery in the background. But we were told not to go to the area near the gallery and to use the side walk. Some of the fans, who wanted to see the shooting from near the gallery, had to submit their mobile phones with the bouncers. Sukhna Lake is a tourist spot and it is not possible for a tourist to visit the tourist spot again. The shooting crew could have done the shooting at early morning,” shared Raghav Arora of Patiala.
The shooting also saw the vanity van of the movie crew parked in the parking near the Chandigarh Golf Club. Amita Mehta, a regular walker at the lake, sees the using of scooters and bikes at Sukhna Lake setting a wrong trend for the youth. “The vanity van and its generators cause a lot of pollution and it could have been avoided since Sukhna Lake is a Eco-sensitive zone. Also the usage of scooter and bike on the road near jogging track in the movie shoots should be stopped. We have seen people trying to enter the lake area on cars or scooters in the past and such things in movies promotes such acts,” shared Mehta, who is a resident of Sector 16.
Manoj Parida, advisor to the UT Administrator and Mandeep Singh Brar, Deputy Commissioner, Chandigarh could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.