Reel for real mistake!!!

This is hard to believe. But writer-director Anees Bazmi whose new romantic comedy Welcome is hurtling to a completion claims that the showdown between Nana Patekar and Akshay Kumar reported a few days ago, was nothing but a case of the reel being mistaken for the real.

Says Anees, "The fight that people saw was actually part of a scene that Nana-ji and Akshay were doing together. To make it look more real we decided let them do their own thing instead of allowing the action director to orchestrate the two actors' moves. During the on-camera scuffle things got a bit out of hand. Bas, people put their own versions of the story together."

Anees, poor guy sandwiched between a temperamental veteran and an egoistic star, admits the supposedly cinematic scuffle looked like the real thing to bystanders.

"But it's not possible for Akki to altercate with someone so senior and respected!" protests Anees. "He respects Nana too much to even raise his voice... except for the camera."

Incidentally this isn't the first time that Nana Patekar has got into a situation with a co-star. He has had a long history of altercations.