A
holy
visit
to
Jaipur
on
Tuesday
turned
out
to
be
a
rather
comic
nightmare
for
Sanjay
Leela
Bhansali.
On
Wednesday,
when
he
was
waiting
to
board
his
flight
back
to
Mumbai,
calamity
struck.
Freak
rain
created
a
situation
so
unique
in
travel
history
that
SLB
found
himself
in
the
midst
of
making
history
over
and
above
his
cinema.
Says
the
director,
a
nervous
flier
by
nature,
“Though
it
was
raining
heavily,
the
Mumbai-Jaipur
flight
landed
on
time
and
we
got
ready
to
board
the
flight.
But
after
the
landing,
no
passenger
came
out
of
the
aircraft!
The
minutes
ticked
into
hours.
Still
no
sign
of
anyone
emerging
from
the
aircraft.
We
were
told
nothing.
We
just
sat
waiting
for
movement
from
the
aircraft,
wondering
if
it
was
being
held
hostage."
Several
hours
after
the
scheduled
departure
time,
and
with
Sanjay
getting
nervous
about
losing
precious
time,
it
came
to
light
that
the
passengers,
who
had
landed
in
Jaipur
from
Mumbai,
refused
to
deboard
because
it
was
raining
though
there
was
bus
to
carry
them
to
the
terminal.
The
incoming
passengers
finally
de-boarded
two
hours
after
arrival.
But
then
began
the
second-half
of
the
drama.
The
passengers
waiting
to
board
refused
to
do
so.
Recalling
the
harrowing
incident,
Sanjay
says,
"The
passengers
then
started
saying
that
they
wouldn't
board
in
protest
for
the
delay.
One
passenger
even
took
out
a
video
camera
to
record
this
freak
delay
for
posterity.
I
was
hiding
in
a
corner.
If
I
got
captured
on
camera
and
the
news
channels
got
a
hand
on
it,
I'd
become
more
famous
then
I
wanted
to
be."
The
ground
crew
finally
convinced
the
outgoing
passengers
from
Jaipur
to
Mumbai
to
board
while
a
very
tense
and
nervous
filmmaker
tried
to
forget
that
he
had
a
release
coming
up
in
less
than
36
hours.
Story first published: Friday, November 19, 2010, 15:40 [IST]