Monsoon rain cools Peshawar, Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Monsoon rains continue to lash widespread areas of Pakistan, TrendPK reports.

Showers turned the weather pleasant in the capital city of Islamabad, brining smiles on faces of citizens.

In Peshawar, two days of rains brought the temperature down to pleasing level.

The Met office has forecast more rains in interior Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and Balochistan for the next 24 hours. TrendPK

Ferrari Ki Sawaari team shoots cricket sequence in rain

Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Ferrari Ki Sawaari shot their most crucial scene last week, after a wait of two long months. Close sources reveal how they shot their one of the most important scenes in the script – that is the ‘Cricket sequence’.

The team, who has finished its first schedule of shooting, had kept one exclusive scene pending for over 60 days especially for the rains as they wanted to shoot it under natural rainfall.

The team filmed this significant cricket sequence at the University Ground, Marine Lines last week amidst heavy downpour, which was a blessing to them as they were waiting for the perfect weather since a very long time.

The cast and the crew of film kept postponing the dates to capture this portion, which forms the pulse of the film. There was a lot of to and fro to match the dates and time of the entire team for this particular scene as the rains were unpredictable.

Director, Rajesh Mapuskar was keen that the scene should be nothing less than perfect and all is done authentically. The film team was very supportive to him and generously managed their dates accordingly.

Finally the wait came to an end last week, where they managed to shoot the two day long cricket sequence in the desired weather with heavy rainfall.

Director Rajesh Mapuskar says, “I have been working under Rajkumar Hirani and Vinod Chopra since a while now and one of the first things that I have learnt is to be true to the script. Earlier also we have shot in the authentic backdrop of Mumbai University, we have also shot live on roads amongst live audience – even when shooting with Sharman Joshi. So it was very important for us to authentically shoot this cricket sequence as it happens to be one of our most important sequences.”

More than half of the shooting is done and now the crucial scene is also taken care of. Lead actor Sharman Joshi and director Rajesh Mapuskar are now gearing up to complete the rest of the script.

“Special thanks to Sharman and my team. Sharman, other cast members and the entire crew were extremely supportive of me and made sure that we film this sequence as we had imagined according to the script. 60% of the filming is over and we are very much running on schedule. Our next schedule of shoot will begin post September after the rains,” adds Rajesh Mapuskar.

F.A.L.T.U shoot shifted to Shimla due to rains in Mumbai

Unpredictable weather has made shooting in Mumbai like Russian roulette. After Madhur Bhandarkar who had to postpone his outdoor schedule in Mumbai for Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji, it is Vashu Bhagnani’s turn to suffer due to erratic and heavy rains.

A part of the shooting to meant to be in Mumbai would now have to be done in Shimla.

Explaining the sudden change in location which would mean an added cost of at least Rs. 20 lakh for his son Jackky’s re-launch, film producer Vashu explains, “We had planned some songs and scenes in Khandala. But the weather Gods did us in. The monsoon in Maharashtra has become dangerously moody. It is impossible to shoot outdoors in the rains. Earlier when we had downpours, shooting used to delayed for an hour and then it used to be fine.”

But this monsoon is different. “We just can’t shoot in the rains. When the downpour begins, it goes on the whole day. We discovered it was impossible to shoot in Khandala. So we’re moving to Shimla which looks a lot like Khandala. Believe me, Shimla which was supposed to have erratic weather conditions is far more predictable than Maharashtra these days.”

Luckily, Vashu has a director who doesn’t delay shooting.

Says the producer, “Remo is as disciplined in direction as he’s in dancing. He doesn’t waste time or resources. When our schedule in Khandala didn’t work out, he quickly relocated to Shimla. I am done with wasteful directors.”

The Shimla -as- Khandala schedule starts as soon as Vashu’s son Jackky returns from the World Cup Finals.

Says Vashu, “I met my son at the airport. I landed from Bangkok. He was on his way to South Africa.”

Heavy Rains Caused Unusual Flooding:Argentina

Hundreds and thousands of people have been left homeless due to heavy rains and flooding in Argentina.
Due to two days of heavy rains people have been facing difficulties to reach home from work.
Police had to resort to drastic measures including the use of canoes and rafts to assist the residents. Subway services and electricity supply was curtailed to ensure public safety.
According to the National Meteorological Service, heavy rains will continue for the next 24 hours.

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Heavy Rains Caused Unusual Flooding:Argentina was first posted on February 20, 2010 at 4:12 pm.

Rare, Heavy rains soak Pilgrims in Haj

Rare, heavy rainstorms soaked pilgrims and flooded the road into Mecca, snarling Islam’s annual hajj as millions of Muslims headed for the holy sites. The downpours add an extra hazard on top of intense concerns about the spread of swine flu.

Pilgrims in white robes porting umbrellas, some wearing face masks for fear of the flu, circled the black cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca, the opening rite for the hajj. But the shrine — Islam’s holiest site — and the nearby, rain-soaked streets did not see the usual massive crowds, because many tried to stay inside nearby hotels or were caught up in the traffic jams heading into the city.

The hajj — a lifetime dream for Muslims to cleanse their sins — is always a logistical nightmare, as a population the size of a small city moves between Mecca and holy sites in the nearby desert over the course of four days.

In the past, the rites have been plagued by deadly stampedes caused by congestion as the massive crowds perform the rituals — and Saudi authorities Wednesday were clearly concerned the rains could worsen the potential dangers. Civil authorities urged pilgrims to move cautiously and not to rush.

This year has brought the added worry that the massing of more than 3 million people from around the world could bring a swine flu outbreak. For months ahead of the pilgrimage, the Saudi government has been working with the United States’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention to set up clinics and precautionary measures to stem any outbreak.

So far, four pilgrims have died from the H1N1 virus since arriving in Saudi Arabia in recent days, and 67 pilgrims have been diagnosed with the virus, Saudi Health Minister Abdullah Al Rabeeah told the Arab news network Al Jazeera English.

Shahul Ebrahim, a consultant from the Atlanta, Georgia-based CDC at the hajj, said it was too early to tell if the rains could exacerbate the spread of H1N1, the flu virus.

‘Rain can lead to other waterborne diseases … such as the common cold, flu. But we still don’t know how it will effect H1N1. We can’t predict,’ he told The Associated Press.

So far, the rain was mainly just causing traffic snarls. Winter is the rainy season in Mecca, and light showers are not uncommon, but such a heavy downpour has not been seen for years during hajj. The pilgrimage takes place according to Islam’s lunar calendar, and so rotates through the year.

Civil Defense spokesman Maj. Abdullah Al Harthi said his organization has plans ready to deal with flooding, including 300 buses to evacuate pilgrims if necessary. He said no casualties have been reported from the rains, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

One lane of the main road into Mecca was closed by flooding, reducing it to one lane, said Amer Al Amer, an Interior Ministry spokesman. ‘It cannot handle the pressure of all the people coming from outside Mecca,’ he said, adding that it would cause delays of several hours for people trying to reach the sites.

The numbers of pilgrims are expected to exceed last year, when some 3 million attended, Al Amer told AP.

Streets were flooded in the Red Sea coastal city of Jiddah, the entry point for many pilgrims. Pilgrims on Wednesday were making their way to Mecca to perform the circling of the Kaaba and to the nearby desert valley of Mina, where a sprawling tent city has been set up for them to reside in.

Water covered the floors in many of the tents, said Suleiman Hamad, a 29-year-old pilgrim in Mina. He said the scene was ‘muddy, but manageable,’ with many pilgrims throwing blankets over their heads when they walked outside.

Rain fell sporadically throughout the day, and stopped by late afternoon in many sites — though it continued to fall in Mecca. Al Amer and other authorities were optimistic that flooded areas would dry by evening. Courtesy khaleejtimes.com

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Rare, Heavy rains soak Pilgrims in Haj was first posted on November 25, 2009 at 8:32 pm.