Paris has always been a popular tourist spot. But now, its increasing popularity is making Hollywood and Bollywood fight for space there.

Recently, the unit of Yash Raj Films’ Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (JBJ) ran into the unit of Jackie Chan’s Rush Hour 3.

The clash

According to a unit member of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, “We were shooting an elaborate song Ticket To Hollywood, choreographed by Vaibhavi Merchant, at the Place de la Concorde in Paris with Lara Dutta and Abhishek Bachchan. It was a huge unit with 120 dancers.

Suddenly, a car streaked into the camera’s field. When we enquired about the car, we discovered that it was being driven by stunt drivers from the crew of Rush Hour 3, who happened to be shooting right across the road!”

Saath-saath

That must have come as a shock to the director Shaad Ali and his unit. “Not really,” says the unit member, adding, “We have shot the entire song, Ticket To Hollywood, at different places in Paris like the Eiffel Towers, the Place de la Concorde, the Louvre, Notterdam and The Arc de Triomphe.

We discovered that Rush Hour 3 with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker was also being shot in pretty much the same locations, so wherever we shot we found they were shooting there.”

Bollywood calling

What came as a surprise to the JBJ unit was when Jackie Chan himself landed up on their set to watch the shoot. A unit member says, “The Rush Hour 3 unit was shooting their stunts right next to where our camera was placed.

Jackie loves Bollywood films and when he heard about our shoot at the Place de la Concorde, he came on the sets. He also met the executive producer, Sanjay Shivalkar. Their unit was very supportive and would often stop their shooting to accommodate our frames and we would do the same.”

Ticket to Hollywood

Chan loved the song Ticket To Hollywood. A unit member describes Ticket To Hollywood, composed by Shankar-Ehsan-Loy, as “a cross between hip-hop meets desi bhangra.

There were 80 professional dancers from London and 40 professional Cabaret and Can Can dancers. It has a very Moulin Rouge effect.”