Click to play videoMumbai: The red carpet was laid out and shehnai recitals welcomed the guests. No, it wasn’t the much-awaited wedding of actors Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan though, half the protagonists of that story were present in Karjat, Maharashtra, to celebrate the second anniversary of filmmaker Nitin Desai's studio.
The banner at the entry read – ‘Nitin Desai's Studios: where dreams come true". And Desai, Bollywood's most famous art director and designer, definitely saw his dreams coming true when half of Bollywood led by Amitabh Bachchan, Aishawarya Rai, Hrithik Roshan, Ashutosh Gwaritkar and Anil Kapoor among others turned up to celebrate the day.
“Amitji, I am so delighted that today my dreams are finally coming true,” Nitin Desai said addressing the Big B.
Located just 90 kms away from Mumbai, ND Studios is already giving some tough competition to Film City.
This is the place where director Sanjay Leela Bhansali created some magnificent sets for his forthcoming opus Saawariya.
Presently, director Ashutosh Gowariker is shooting his Jodha Akbar there and Madhur Bhandarkar shot virtually all of Traffic Signal at Desai's studio.
Even the first shots of the new Munnabhai film Munnabhai Chale Amreeka were canned in this studio.
Filmmakers have embraced the privacy Desai's studio provides them and are all praise for the state-of-art technology available.
“In the early years we have worked in some very strenuous circumstances where studio facilities and working conditions were not conducive at all. This studio is a marvel,” said Amitabh Bachchan.
While Aishwarya Rai congratulated Desai for “putting up an incredible studio in record time.”
Meanwhile, Ashutosh Gowariker explained, “Nitin has taken note of all the problems that filmmakers face in Mumbai and tried to solve them in this studio.”
Despite the hour-and-a-half drive that takes to the studio in Karjat, the stars aren't complaining. Aishwarya Rai seems happy to be driven to the set every morning from her Bandra home but Hrithik prefers to travel in style. The Dhoom 2 star is flown in every morning in a private helicopter.
Film City may be closer and less expensive but Bollywood believes that tucked away in Karjat, this might be just the perfect movie-making facility they've been seeking all these years.
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