Dhawan-Dattani stranded in monsoon
Filmmaker David Dhawan and actor Sammir Dattani were forced to take refuge in the same hotel when they were caught in the deluge.
The torrential rains in Mumbai this week that brought the metropolis to a halt for two days gave a few bad moments to some Bollywood stars too.
Both filmmaker David Dhawan and actor Sammir Dattani were forced to take refuge in the same hotel when they were caught in the deluge.
While David got stranded shooting his next film "Shaadi No 1" (which features Sammir's co-star from "Kahani Mein Twist" Soha Ali Khan) Sammir got stranded while watching David's latest release "Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya" with his friends at a suburban multiplex.
Chuckles Sammir, "It was frightening, crazy and unimaginable in a city like Mumbai. We never thought there would be so many people out there at the theatre on Wednesday. After all, everything had shut down and it was a government holiday. But that's precisely why we couldn't get tickets.
"We decided to turn back and drive back to town. And that's when the trouble started. Our car couldn't move on the road. Panicky commuters were jumping on car bonnets, pounding on the windows of cars. It was a scene straight out of 'War Of The Worlds'."
The worst was yet to come for the "Uff Kya Jadoo Mohabbat Hai" actor. A group of hooligans recognised the star and demanded he come out of the car.
"Once I did the needful they began to get aggressive. Anything could've happened if a kindly couple hadn't come to our rescue. My friends and I quickly jumped into their car."
The couple drove Sammir and his friends to Sun 'n' Sand, "Where the rooms were full thanks to stranded commuters. We pleaded, and finally got a room to spend the night since returning home was impossible...It was like a disaster movie come to life."
And guess who walked into Sun 'n' Sand to escape the rains?
None other than David Dhawan and his team for Vashu Bhagnani's "Shaadi No. 1".
As the skies opened up in Mumbai, David Dhawan had to call off shooting and rush for shelter into the hotel with his cast of Esha Deol (with a poodle in tow), Zayed Khan (no he wasn't the poodle) and Raima Sen.
And that's where they remained. "Some day I'll make a comedy about what happened that night," chuckles David.