Fiji Pigs, dog trainer for "Disco Valley"

Fiji’s Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has helped a Bollywood producer by giving him the permission to use two pigs and a dog trainer for his movie which will be shot here soon.

A romantic comedy titled "Disco Valley" which stars Rajat Barmecha, Manjot Singh and Shazahn Padamsee in lead roles requires a trained pig to play a key role.

Producer Siddharth Jain wanted to hire a trained pig and transport it from Australia to Fiji for the movie, but this would have cost him more than the film's entire budget.

Jain in a Daily Mail report said while having a trained pig flown from Australia to Fiji, where the film will be shot, was costing way beyond expected, he opted to seek help from the Fijian Government.

And Bainimarama stepped in and offered a local pig and a dog trainer

"When we decided to make a pig a pivotal character, we never realised it would be so expensive. More than the cost of hiring a pig, maintaining it everyday was too expensive. So instead of hiring the pig, we decided to buy it outright and get a pig trainer," said Jain.

"We wanted a small cute pig. So we paid the price of an oversized pig for a small one. Then we realised that the pig was temperamental. So we hired two identical pigs, so that if one was not the mood at the time of the shot the other one could can step in," he added.

"He (the Prime Minister) suggested we use local pigs instead of bringing them from Australia. We couldn't get a pig trainer, so we now have a dog trainer looking after the pigs."

This excessive attention to the pigs is said to have not gone down too well with the actors in "Diso Valley". Rajat and Manjot have reportedly made their displeasure very clear to the producer.

But Jain says "It can't be helped."

According to the film's script, the pig is required to accompany the main human characters everywhere.

By Ropate Valemei