Star struck

Life in Chowk, a village near Pune, revolves around a film studio. It helps that the villagers get to star gaze too

Life in Chowk, a village near Pune, revolves around a film studio. It helps that the villagers get to star gaze too
The studio is central to Chowk. A 52-acre sprawl, this is where dreams get acted out before they hit movie screens across the country. But to the 13,000 villagers of Chowk, 85 km from Pune, the studio is as real as it gets8212;this is where at least 200 people from the village work.

Art director Nitin Desai set up the studio8212;The Big ND Studio8212;in 2006. 8220;I visited 48 destinations before I finally chose Chowk to set up the studio. Chowk seemed just the right place.8221;
At least 40-50 Bollywood films and countless serials have been shot here. The first Bigg Boss show8212;with all the Rakhee Sawant sequences8212;was shot here. And so were films like Jodhaa Akbar, Saawariya, Munnabhai MBBS and Traffic Signal.

The studio not only generated jobs, it changed the way Chowk lived. 8220;Till three years ago, villagers had to either walk to nearby places or use bullock carts. But today, the carts and cycles have been replaced by two wheelers, cars and tractors,8221; says Y.J. Rajput, village development officer, Chowk gram panchayat.

The youth in the village, who mostly followed their parents to work in the fields or in agro-based industries, now work at the studio. They work as doormen, security guards and receptionists. Some even work in the administration and finance departments. 8220;We have 35 security personnel, and nearly 25 others in administrative jobs,8221; says Shrikant Desai, studio head.

Rajesh Barve, who has studied till Class 12, has been working at the studio since 2006. 8220;I started working in the warehouse of the studio but now I do office work,8221; says Barve, the only working member in his family. His most memorable moment at work was when he met actor Tushar Kapoor during one of the shooting schedules.

For years, the only entertainment in Chowk was the local cultural functions and the occasional films shown on a projector. But the studio introduced them to the stars from Mumbai8212;Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan and several others who 8220;keep coming for shooting8221;, like Barve says.

Netra Choudhary, who joined the administration department of the studio after her graduation, says, 8220;I had never ever imagined that I would work in the glamour industry. The job has made me financially stable and I didn8217;t even have to go to Mumbai or any other city to earn a living.8221;