Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Collectorate dons new avatar

Santosh Patnaik

CHANGING ROLE: Models-turned-medicos get ready for the film shooting in Visakhapatnam on Monday. - Photo: K.R. Deepak

VISAKHAPATNAM: People thronging the Collectorate for the weekly Spandana programme were shocked when they saw `medicos' occupying every inch of the majestic century-old building on Monday.

They were more confused when they discovered a board reading `Govt. Medical College' prominently at the place where usually Spandana was held every Monday. The `medical college' board also fuelled speculation that the proposed Rs.100-crore Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) would be shifted to the Collectorate instead of Adarshnagar as announced earlier.

Nameplates galore

Nameplates reading operation theatre, anatomy department, information counter, students' parking, intensive care unit, staff common room and payment counter greeted visitors at the Collectorate Post Office, record rooms and various other sections.

Inside the Collectorate, several youngsters clad in the attire of medicos and carrying stethoscopes were seen raising slogans in memory of one of their classmates. Broken chairs and tables were found strewn in various parts.

Suddenly they heard the cries of `cut, cut.' It was then realised that a film shooting was going on at the Collectorate, which went on for a couple of hours.

Proper ambience

On enquiry, people as well as the revenue staff came to know that the Collectorate had become the venue for the shooting of the Tamil version of the Telugu hit `Arya.' To give the right ambience, the nameplates and broken furniture were brought to the venue along with the `medicos.' An event manager, who arranged some local models to act as medicos in the movie, said that the Tamil movie also named `Arya,' had given several local artistes a chance to act, albeit in small roles. The producer of the film is Manoj Kumar and the director is Balasekhar. Mahadevan and Donna are in the lead roles. Film unit sources said that the Tamil version would be ready for release in a few months.

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