Celebrating love

Screen dropped in to check out the shooting of the Sunny Deol-Kangna Ranaut starrer I Love New Year at Filmalaya Studios in Mumbai

The set on the second floor of Filmalaya Studios has been constructed to resemble an apartment in New York,the city where I Love New Year is set. The spirit of Christmas and New Year can be felt in the ambience: A bottle of champagne,wine glasses and cup cakes are laid neatly on a dining table and décor that includes Christmas cards and other decorations. On the other end of the set,there is a bookshelf packed with books and adorned with Christmas decorations.

Sunny Deol,who is dressed in a white shirt and denims and tucked in leather jacket,chats up director Vinay Sapru,while Kangna Ranaut in a pink saree with her mop of curls tucked under a paper cap,is intently scrutinising some previous shots on a monitor.

When the table is set for the scene,Sapru says ‘Ready’ and Kangna strides across to the table. As soon as the director says ‘Action’ she shouts ‘One,two,three’,fires three shots in the air,mouths ‘Happy New Year’ thrice,snap opens the bottle of champagne and guzzles down some drink and then bangs down the bottle on the table. All this time she is unaware that Sunny is standing behind her with a sweet smile on his face. This is my home in the film. The scene we are shooting today is very funny. I pretend to enjoy myself by drinking champagne and eating chocolate cake after I have been ditched by Sunny Deol to whom I was engaged, informs Kangna.

Besides Kangna’s home,we have also constructed Sunny’s home in the studios keeping in mind their characters and the interiors in the US,as the film is set there. We shot all the outdoor scenes in New York last year and are shooting the indoor scenes here, said Sapru,who is directing the film with Radhika Rao. The unassuming duo had directed Salman Khan in Lucky… No Time For Love and several music videos including the Tere mast mast do nain song in Dabangg.

The film is a story told over two days and it is for the first time that Sunny will be seen in a romcom. Like Dharmendraji had an image of an action hero but was loved in films like Chupke Chupke,Sunny will impress in this film, smiled the director.

The shooting gets over on July 14 after which the last schedule will be shot in August. ILNY releases on December 23 this year.