Pretty Woman walking down the street - Delhi bouncers, Haryanvi cops in tow

PATAUDI - Hoping to keep the paparazzi away, Pretty Woman Julia Roberts, who is camping here with her children to shoot her new film “Eat, Pray, Love”, has added to her retinue of security guards with bouncers from New Delhi and burly Haryanvi cops.

Roberts, who landed in New Delhi Thursday afternoon and drove straight to this Haryana town, about 40 km away, spent much of Friday resting at the gracious Pataudi Palace hotel.

“She has come with her people but has also hired bouncers from Delhi. Right now she is resting at Pataudi Palace. There will be some activity post noon and tomorrow,” said an official here on condition of anonymity.

Haryana police officials added that they had provided “adequate security” to the Hollywood star.

“She has been given adequate security, what is required for a celebrity,” Police Commissioner (Gurgaon) S.S. Beswal told IANS.

The actress is here with her three children — four-and-a-half-year-old twins Hazel and Phinnaeus and two-year-old son Henry — and their nannies. She will be shooting the India scenes of her new film with her Hollywood colleagues Billy Crudup, Javier Bardem and Richard Jenkins.

The main shooting schedule is likely to begin Sunday in and around Pataudi Palace, belonging to the erstwhile prince of Pataudi and former India cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. The palace has now been converted into a heritage hotel.

Based on author Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoirs, “Eat, Love, Pray”, directed by Ryan Murphy, features Roberts as Gilbert who travels to Italy, India and Indonesia in search of peace. The India part of the film will be shot at the Ashram Hari Mandir in Pataudi.

The crew and cast of the film are expected to be in Pataudi till the first week of October.