The swords are a very important part of the character which I am playing-Abhishek

This kind of experience, you would expect on the sets of Indiana Jones, The Phantom, Pirates of the Caribbean or even The Mummy... not Goldie Behl’s Drona. But the story goes that strange incidents have been occurring around a set of three titanium swords made in Johannesburg with Sanskrit mantras on them that Abhishek Bachchan uses in the film.

According to both, Behl and Abhishek, weird things would happen whenever the three swords were separated. They first lost one at a remote location in the desert of Namibia. The next day, a man mysteriously returned the sword (each costs Rs 10 lakh) to the hotel where the cast was put up.

Then, while shooting in the Thar desert at a place in Bikaner, the swords were separated again... and lo! thunderclouds gathered and that area received very heavy rainfall for the first time in years. Next day, when the swords were still not brought together, a hailstorm lashed the desert, which was an eerie coincidence, uncommon in that area.

Freak explosions on flatbed rail cars used in the film followed and there were close shaves that could have been major mishaps thrice during a car chase sequence in Prague. All of which prompted Behl to keep the swords together from then on. “In the beginning, we just couldn’t understand what was happening, but now we don’t take any chances,” said the director. “Though magic and fantasy is part of the film we couldn’t relate this with what happened on the sets.” While Abhishek admitted, “It was bizarre... the incidents in Namibia and Prague, and ice falling from sky in the Thar region. The swords are a very important part of the character which I am playing. It’s actually difficult to explain...”