Varanasi locals feel cheated of `stardom’

He could surely have made big money during the 40-day shoot instead of the petty change he now gets shaving chins on the banks of the holy river.Besides Shyamlal, there is Dr K K Pandey, a physician, in whose house the main indoor sets of the film were made. The doctor was even given a small role. Art director Aradhana Seth spent weeks to set up a widow home of the 1930s in Dr Pandey’s house before the turn of events forced a pack-up.A basil plant sitting in a corner of the courtyard in his house and some provincial armed constabulary jawans playing cards outside his house are the only tell-tale signs of the reel-life “vidhava ashram”.

Then there is Ashok Singh, who now sits in his run-down tea stall rueing his luck, when just a few days ago he was helping the production team, rubbing shoulders with the Bollywood stars.

Back to serving tea at the shop he is bitter at the circumstances that denied him a “chance to make a career in Bollywood”.

Ratishankar Tripathi, a known figure in the city’s art circle, who worked hard for the past few months making all arrangements for the film’s shooting like selecting sites and set material, now only hopes that the film is completed at a new place in Madhya Pradesh or West Bengal.

He is eager to be with the film unit as soon as the modalities of shooting are finalised.