Nakul and Preeti in With Love, Tumhaara and (below) Pravin Dabbas

Preeti Jhangiani and Nakul Vaid had a miraculous escape on the sets of With Love, Tumhaara in the hills of Manali recently. Preeti and Nakul had kept mum about this simply because Preeti’s parents would have worried themselves sick. “My parents are always worried about me,” said Preeti when contacted. “Whenever I shoot outdoors, either of them accompanies me. This was the first time that I had gone without them and look what an escape I had!”

Preeti doesn’t even want to recall the horrible experience, but she believes that both Nakul and she have got a second life. “It was for this song sequence where I was to slide down the ice from a great height along with Nakul. We were provided a tyre to sit on and it was tied with a rope which was to be held by a strong and agile person,” recalls Preeti. But as Preeti and Nakul started skidding down the slope, the person who was supposed to hold the rope, caved in. “And we were headed straight towards the deep valley at the end of the slope,” she shudders. “Had a tree not come in our way, both of us would have fallen into the valley and died.”

It wasn’t that there weren’t enough security measures taken. “To avoid any calamity, the director Kamal Nathani had asked some people to stand at the end of slope, just before the valley,” added Nakul. “But as they saw the tyre speeding towards them, they also panicked and instead of coming closer, started running away.”

Both of them hit the tree and even though they got injured in the collision, they couldn’t thank their stars enough for staying alive. “I wish I could take this accident out of my mind. It keeps coming back, giving me goosebumps,” concludes Preeti.

This film looks sort of jinxed. Even Pravin Dabbas went missing for two days from Manali during the shooting of With Love, Tumhaara. Pravin, who is very fond of photography, went off on a trek and didn’t return for two days leaving everybody in the unit losing their head.

“He left, saying he would be back in an hour, but didn’t return the whole night,” revealed a source present during the shooting. “We kept waiting, but when he didn’t return even the next day, we panicked.”

When contacted, Pravin confirmed the news saying he had left for a short trek after his pack-up. “I had completed my shoot and went trekking in the mountains thinking I would be back in a few hours. But after capturing some beautiful frames in my camera, when I started back, I realised I had lost my way.”And if that wasn’t enough, the weather changed from bad to worse. “Thank God, I found a temple in the middle of the thick jungle,” sighs Pravin, adding that the sadhus who resided there were very cooperative and gave him shelter for the night. “They asked me not to venture out at night since the area was full of wild animals like bears. It was an exciting experience, but I regret keeping the entire unit tense.”

Director Kamal Nathani was about to file a missing complaint, but decided to avoid chaos in the unit. But when Pravin did not return even the next day, he thought of taking police’s help. “On the second day, while I was on my way to the police station, I saw Pravin returning,” said the relieved director. “We spent sleepless nights after he went missing.”

But Pravin is still happy since he has managed to shoot some amazing pictures and he is also planning an exhibition.

(Sampurn)