Govinda & Celina give their version of The Mall Trouble

Govinda seems to be followed by trouble wherever he goes. And when you have Celina Jaitley who's lately been having her own share of run-ins with celebrity-harassment then you're in for trouble. On Friday while shooting at the City Mall in Oshiwara for Aditya Dutta's romantic musical, Garam Chai Govinda's bodyguards allegedly got into a scuffle with a shopkeeper.

Speaking on the incident for the first time Govinda said, "I didn't know Garam Chai would turn out so garam. It seems I am not fated to have any peace. We had got the required permission to shoot. But it seems the mall's builder and some shop owners had a long-standing dispute. Of course, we had the relevant permission. Without it, I don't shoot at public places. Our arrangement was with the builder. So while we were shooting one of the shop-owners came and stood in front of camera." The situation got uglier. "He started to abuse the entire film industry using the choicest maa-bahen expletives. I tried to reason with him. But no one could talk to him. But the man seemed fearless. He was scared neither of the law nor of anything else. He had a few of his colleagues with him. And they all seemed to pride themselves for not being scared of anyone. He even raised his hand on a cop, armed with a machine-gun, mind you. I found the whole situation very weird. But I'm only the actor in the unit. I was told to stay aloof."

Govinda is all praise for his co-star Celina. "She behaved very graciously. We're doing a lovely film together. I hadn't done a romantic film for ages. And the songs were lovely. Chai Garam has very sensuous, very Bengali feel to it." After a pause Govinda says, "It's not easy to remain quiet and famous in this city. They keep talking about my late coming. But no one speaks about how I've completed Money Hai To Honey in three months flat. Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai is also complete. I'll have four releases this year. I'm just happy I'm able to do my work. And if being a busy actor means you get the wrong kind of notice then I'll just take it in my stride."

In Ravi Chopra'a film, Govinda plays a lawyer again after Kyunki Main Jhooth Nahin Bolta. "In the earlier film I felt we went wrong because what I was fighting for wasn't highlighted in the plot. In Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai I fight for a very topical cause. A group of youngsters in Mumbai, get into trouble for no fault of theirs. Nowadays we always hear of youngsters getting into trouble, so much so that they're afraid to step out of their homes to have fun. Why only youngsters? Even we of an older generation aren't spared."

Adds Celina Jaitly, "Quite a beginning for Chai Garam it was Me and Chi Chi (Govinda). We were giving a shot when right in the middle of it this guy came in abusing and shouting. We were shocked speechless. Chi Chi and I just kept staring at him. Somewhere a scuffle started."

Subash K. Jha