What Christopher Nolan's visit to Mumbai means to an ardent fan

A still from Knights of Nolan where Gohil shares why Nolans films are special to himThere are fans and then there are those who determine the course of their lives after factoring in their heroes Mehul Gohil is among the latter In January this year the 34yearold video production and social media professional from Mumbai experienced the same flutter of the heart he had felt seven years ago when he decided to pack his bags and head to Jodhpur with fellow Christopher Nolan fan well stick to fan for practical purposes Ryan Pereira after learning that the filmmaker was in the Blue City to shoot a few sequences for The Dark Knight RisesThe Tshirt designed by community membersGohil remembers sitting in the blazing May sun for hours on end before the duo managed to meet crewmembers of the films production unit They watched Nolan from a distance as he shot at Mehrangarh Fort but all attempts to meet their hero remained futile What they did do was hand over the memorabilia posters letters and pictures they had lugged along with them to the unit production manager who promised to pass them on to the man And he did for a month after the shoot was wrapped up in India Pereira received a gracious satellite call from none other than Nolan himself to thank them for coming down to Jodhpur and the giftsChristopher Nolan arrived in Mumbai on Thursday He is seen here with his children and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur PicBipin KokateThis time however is different Chris is on our soil in Mumbai itself says Gohil with childlike excitement Ever since he gathered from social media about Nolans visit to the city he has kept track of the Film Heritage Foundations FHFs Facebook page The organisations work in film preservation and restoration was noticed by Nolan and he is in Mumbai to discuss the future of the medium of film which he shoots his movies on as opposed to the more popular digital medium with FHF cofounder Shivendra Singh Dungarpur and one of Britains premier artistes Tacita Dean To engage Mumbaikars with celluloid the foundation organised a film reel hunt in the city and Gohil is one of the six winners who will be in the audience for the discussion on SundayMehul Gohil left and Ryan Pereira extreme right with the production unit in Jodhpur in 2011 Gohils photographs from the shoot went viral as they were the first to emerge on the InternetI had always been a fan of Batman the character but the 1997 movie Batman and Robin was a disaster and I knew that a remake was due It was when the first production images of Nolans Batman Begins started surfacing in 200405 that I felt it was going to be different When I watched the movie I was blown away It was compelling stuff that had the true essence of Batman the way it should have been all along says GohilHe went on to cofound the official The Dark Knight Rises Community page on Facebook with Pereira and Lester Fernandes which has close to 10000 fans including famous YouTubers from across the globe The group has designed its own Tshirt and members happily wear one when they go to watch a Nolan movie which could even take them out of their city Gohil for instance has travelled with fellow fans to Hyderabad to watch Nolans films in IMAX technology in which they are best enjoyed That the communitys seriousness about Nolans work has been noted was established when Warner Bros India ended up inviting a few members including Gohil for the official premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in MumbaiWith Nolan in his backyard what does Gohil hope for We have made a short film for Chris called Knights of Nolan which we hope to give to him says Gohil as he returns from the FHF office after handing over a DVD of the film to be passed on to Nolan just in case I was at the airport to drop my parents yesterday and I saw Mr Dungarpur there I knew he must have come to receive Chris and I stood there with an A4 size paper saying Welcome Chris Chris saw my little note as he came out with his family and smiled Perhaps the universe is conspiring he says All we want is a few minutes with him and thank him for what he has done for us Then we can get on with our livesCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates