Sajid Nadiadwala suffers losses due to volcanic ash

In the absence of commercial flights to European countries following volcano eruption in Iceland, producer Sajid Nadiadwala has no option but to hire private jets to take the prints of his forthcoming comedy “Housefull” to Britain and other countries in the region.

“This is most unforeseen. In all my years as a producer, I’ve never encountered such a a crisis. There’re about a 100 prints to be taken to Europe. Air traffic has come to a standstill,” Nadiadwala told IANS.

Directed by Sajid Khan, “Housefull” that stars Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Arjun Rampal, Lara Dutta and Deepika Padukone, is set for April 30 release. As per the rules, delivery overseas has to be made a week in advance of the opening day.

Volcanic ash disrupted flights and most of air traffic to Europe was shut on Tuesday.

“I’m hiring private jets to carry the prints to the nearest city with an open air base. From there the prints will be taken to various European cities by train or road. I’m so desperate. I’m ready to employ any means of transportation – planes, trains, automobiles, whatever is available.”

The added expenditure incurred by the paralysing of air traffic is the least of Nadiadwala’s worries.

“It doesn’t really matter how much money it would cost. The important thing is to get the prints to the European centres on time. Or else the entire overseas release would be affected.”

The harassed producer won’t rest easy until a solution to the transportation deadlock is found. “It’s been one crisis after another for me. First, the underworld threats then this volcanic eruption.”

So stressed is Nadiadwala that he hasn’t been able to enjoy the completion of his next project “Anjaana Anjaani” that stars Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra.

“Ranbir Kapoor had a wrap-up party for ‘Anjaana Anjaani’. But I wasn’t able to attend because of these two back-to-back crises at my workplace. Now I’ll celebrate only when “Housefull” is released properly everywhere.”