What is common between the following scenes from popular Hindi flicks-
* Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaaenge- Shahrukh Khan and Anupam Kher are returning home in a train. Amrish Puri holds back Kajol from boarding but finally relents and Shahrukh pulls Kajol into the running train.
* Kuch Kuch Hota Hai- Kajol boards a train but Shahrukh Khan pleads her not to go. However, she sticks to her decision and Shahrukh ends up just getting her red 'dupatta'.
* Khakee- Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan bash up a bunch of bad guys (and end up getting beaten themselves too) onboard a running train as it slowly pulls out of a village station.
* Guru- Abhishek Bachchan gets ready to board a train to Bombay from his village railway station and at the last minute decides to take his wife, Aishwaria Rai along.
* Mohabbatein- Jimmy Shergill waits all night on a bench on a desolate railway station looking at 'the bride'- Preeti Jhangiani living on the other side of tracks.
Well apart from the obvious fact that all of them involve trains and a station, the common thread binding them all is - Apta.
This quaint little railway station just outside Panvel has probably featured in more Hindi movies and ad films than any other single location in India. Apart from the ones mentioned above, Apta has also been featured in Slumdog Millionaire (O...Saaya!), HDFC Standard Life ('Na sir jhuka hai kabhi...') and God knows how many other lesser known movies, TV serials and ads.
What makes Apta so popular among film-makers? We (me and four of my crazy friends) decide to explore it ourselves and end up spending one hot sweaty day at the most desolate railway station I have ever seen in my life- not a single passenger around, no roof to provide respite from the blazing sun, no foodstall, no mineral water or colddrinks available and to add to it, no village nearby too! But it seems it was destined to make this outing as filmy as possible. So here we go- from the deserted station, cut to a beautiful river where we spend an hour cooling off at what would have been a perfect setting for a romantic song (sadly, there was no heroine with us!). Not willing to make the 2-kilometer walk in the blazing sun, we hail an autorickshaw which already has three passengers in it and the driver asks all five of us to squeeze in, making it one unforgettable ride with nine men in an autorickshaw! Back to the station, we turn to the solitary hand-pump on the platform to quench our thirsts. An hour later, as we sit tired and hungry, to our good luck, Netravathi Express is made to halt for Matsyagandha Express to cross. We jump at this opportunity and ask the Pantry Car of Nethravathi to give us some food! But kahani me twist- even they have run out of all food stock and we have to be satisfied with one bottle each of Bisleri and Mirinda! Thankfully the evening passenger arrives bang on time to take us back home- a Happy Ending in true Hindi movie style!
Deja Vu??--------------------------------------------------
Looks familiar??---------------------------------------------------
In 'Mohabbatein', Karan (Jimmy Shergill) waits on this bench for Kiran (Preeti Jhangiani). A few years later in 2009, another Karan waits at the very same spot...--------------------------------------------------
