"Shooting at The Great Wall of China was the highlight of CC2C" - Rohan Sippy 
By Joginder Tuteja, January 14, 2009 - 12:08 IST
While Chandni Chowk To China is seeing multiple premieres across the continent, producer Rohan Sippy is holding fort in Mumbai and getting plans in place for the paid previews of the film along with the last minute detailing. Getting all set to release his biggest film till date, Rohan fondly remembers his shooting stint at 'The Great Wall of China' and acknowledges that it was his most cherished moment of the shoot.
"While the whole journey of Chandni Chowk To China was extraordinary, for me personally the highlight of the film was to shoot on 'The Great Wall Of China'. We shot for only 8-9 days but each of these days has been memorable. We used to walk as many as 600 steps every morning and even though it used to tire us out, it was always a phenomenal moment to be standing up there. I used to look around me and pinch myself that I was actually standing at one of the world's greatest monument", Rohan says in a nostalgic tone.
He admits though that while on paper things looked quite rosy, it was a completely different challenge to bring scenes on screen. "Very few films have got a chance to shoot at 'The Great Wall of China' and I was the privileged lot. Still, it is quite amazing that we actually managed to pull it off, especially a couple of action sequences on the location. We had to take the equipment all the way up and then down on a daily basis and we were not sure if we would be able to do that. This is where our line producer and local production unit came handy. They did a great job in helping us out", he remembers.
Chandni Chowk To China is the first film to have been shot at this location. "As far as my understanding goes, except for Chinese productions, no other film has been allowed permission to shoot at 'The Great Wall of China'. Ours is the first international film that has been allowed to do so."
After two long years that went into the making of the film, right from the conceptualization phase, Rohan is happy that all the hard work is now ready to be unveiled to the audience.
"I remember going to a recce to China way back in November 2006", says Rohan, "I met with the action director then and started all the ground work because action is such an integral part of the film. There are so many factors involved in a huge international production like this and we had to go through a lot of preparations. It was not just about the logistics but also bringing in good human resources. We had to get a lot of good people in place, set up various departments in production, the works. There was so much planning involved in this two year long project. Now it's time to see the results unfold."
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