Varun Mitra shares his experience of Kabootar Baazi while shooting in Old Delhi

Varun Mitra, soon to be seen in the upcoming Vishesh Films’ project Jalebi, went for an Old Delhi tour to understand his character better. Varun essays the role of Dev who organizes tours for visitors through Delhi lanes.

During one of his touring stint he met someone who hosted the age-old folk sport of Kabootar Baazi. He said, “Before the shooting for ‘Jalebi’ commenced, I met this guy who has been organizing Kabootar Baaz in Old Delhi for a long time. He explained the game to me and I was keen to see how it actually works. At first, it was a bit difficult to keep up with it but later it was fun playing around.’’

Speaking of the game, the actor added, “I have played many games growing up and also as an adult. But there’s nothing as fascinating as Kabootar Baazi. It’s one of the classic games which makes the community strong and brings in unity among them. I asked the host how you recognize your birds in the flock. He replied back to me saying, if you can recognize your family members then you can recognize the birds too.’’

Kabootar Baazi is one of the popular folk sports of North India which is played amongst the locals and has the competition to make the pigeons fly up and land back with just a few verbal commands. There are times when a pigeon from a flock accidentally joins another group. As soon as the player realizes another pigeon has joined his flock, he immediately calls his flock back and captures it. Once captured the original owner loses the right over the pigeon and has to buy it from the one who captured it in exchange for money. The level of skills determines the status you earn in this sport.

‘Jalebi- The everlasting taste of love’, starring Varun Mitra, Rhea Chakraborty, and Digangana Suryavanshi is presented by Vishesh Films in association with Mahesh Bhatt. Produced by Mukesh Bhatt, the film is slated to release on October 12th, 2018.