By Jilawatan

Ever since it went into production, this film has been the talk of Sandalwood. For one, it is touted by producer NM Suresh to be the most expensive ALL WELL! Sonal Chauhan film to ever be shot in the Kannada industry.

It’s also slated to be shot across the seven wonders of the world. And when Jannat girl Sonal Chauhan signed the film, it created a buzz, too.

And now, for the latest gupshup on Cheluve Ninna Nodalu. Even as the crew was shooting in Jordan and Dubai sometime ago, news of Sonal Chauhan troubling the crew made its way into Gandhinagar. Apparently, the actress had run phone bills of up to Rs 75,000 within the first week of shooting; she also supposedly used to arrive late on the sets.

“All this is rubbish. Our shooting went smoothly in both Jordan and Dubai,” defends director Raghu. “Sonal didn’t trouble us. Yes, sometimes she’d come late because her make-up would take a long time. But that’s also because of the shortage of manpower; we had 12 artistes and every one had to be readied for the shooting. And Sonal never complained even when she had to change her costumes in the restrooms at malls, when we were shooting on the streets of Dubai,” explains Raghu. As for Sonal’s bills, the producer would be a better person to explain, he adds.

Another piece of goss that came our way was that the crew returned a couple of days earlier than scheduled because there was a misunderstanding between the crew. “I don’t understand why they spread such baseless rumours,” rues the director. “We were scheduled to return on May 3, but we finished shooting all the portions, including 11 scenes and three songs, by April 30. So, Shivanna and the crew returned the same day, while the producer’s and my family stayed back to holiday in Dubai. There’s been absolutely no problem and we all had a great time shooting,” Raghu tells us.

He adds that he’s learnt to take such negative talk in his stride. “When we announced that we would be shooting Cheluve… at the seven wonders, everyone was sceptical and kept talking about how we would never end up going to all those places. Now that I have covered Jordan and the Middle East, they’ve started saying, ‘China ge hogalla, Machu Pichu ge hogalla.’ But I won’t react. I will shoot in those places and talk when Cheluve… releases,” promises Raghu.