The setting for the film is “north Calcutta of the 1960s”. But Saif the Sardar’s haunt was south Calcutta’s Lake Market and the rate card of a roadside stall mirrored 2008 prices (tea: Rs 5, egg toast: Rs 8...). Picture by Aranya Sen

Onlooker 1: “Arrey hero heroine kahaan hain?”

Onlooker 2: “Kya pata bhai? Kab se khade hain…”

Onlooker 1: “Woh kaun hai?”

Onlooker 2: “Koi Sardarji hai; uska hi scene chal raha hai.”

Many of those who had turned up early on Thursday morning in Lake Market’s Sardar Shankar Road to catch Saif Ali Khan in action got bored and left, not realising that the “koi Sardarji” in yellow check shirt and red turban was the Chhote Nawab himself.

It was Saif’s bearded face coupled with the pagdi that foxed onlookers on Day One of the Calcutta schedule for Imtiaz Ali’s next film. “It was only when someone approached him for an autograph did I realise it was Saif,” said a college student at the shooting site.

If there was no one hounding the star for autographs — because they couldn’t recognise him — there were no hawkers crowding the lane — because they had been paid to stay away from the shoot. The vegetable, fish and fruit sellers had been given Rs 2,000 for a four-day paid holiday. The only vendor on view was a cobbler, stationed by Saif’s Illuminati Films team to add to the ambience.

“It went off as well as it could have gone,” smiled director Imtiaz Ali, who has recreated “a typical north Calcutta street of the 1960s” in Lake Market. The broken wooden bench, the makeshift tea stall (with a rate chart resembling 2008 rather than 1968), the torn Uttam-Suchitra movie poster and unfinished idols of goddesses.

“It feels nice to be back,” smiled Saif — shooting in Calcutta for the first time after Pradeep Sarkar’s Parineeta back in 2005 — before going back to frenzied text messaging on his Communicator. Given the urgency and frequency of the SMS exchange, one was tempted to believe that the recipient was a certain Miss Kapoor.

But that wasn’t reason enough for the crowd to linger. With neither real love Bebo nor reel love Deepika Padukone around, on-set visitors looking for a brush with Bollywood left disappointed. “No song, no dance, no star and not even a heroine around… ,” muttered homemaker Rita Chatterjee.