CHANDIGARH, Jan 5: "One battle is over and now the next one comes, the post-production hassles.'' Fighting it out is Mangal Dhillon, the TV celeb, and his pet project "Khalsa'', the docu-drama on the life of Guru Gobind Singh. The shooting over, Mangal was back in the city to collect the paintings, numbering around 60, from artist Devinder Singh. During a chat with the city's press corps, Mangal expressed gratitude for the help extended to him by both the government and the SGPC, but said "the biggest let down has been the Sikh community. They give `bhashans' of co-operation but back out in moments of need''.He said "Khalsa'' would be premiered at Anandpur Sahib on Baisakhi next year. "Since the Punjab government is expecting around 40-50 lakh of people, I will have to conduct it on a massive scale, with 15-20 projectors. Professional equipment will have to be brought from Bombay''. Mangal has approached the Jalandhar Doordarshan as well as the national network for a simultaneous screening of the docu in serial format. "The Punjabi and Hindi versions will be ready by March 31 and the English version will take some time.'' Mangal is the writer, researcher, producer, director, commentator and editor and says "if I were not all these, I would have collapsed by now due to financial constraints''.Mangal has even mortgaged his office for the project, that will be a blend of silent documentary and theatrical elements with `shabads' in between. Even for the financing done by the Punjab government amounting to Rs 30 lakhs, Mangal had to provide bank guarantee. "It was for the first time that a creative project like this got money on bank guarantee. They did not even have a performa for this.'' But `Khalsa' has potential in it to make Mangal forget the troubles and bask in the glory of being the only one who made a valid contribution in the tercentenary year of Sikhism.
