January. It was cold but  there was no sign of snow. Since the unit could not wait around,  kilos of salt bags bought from the local market and snow making  machines from Bombay helped complete that schedule. The shooting  would be done early at 4 am. And when the locals emerged theyd be  amazed to see so much snow; it looked so authentic that they would  touch it to check whether it was real. Dogs would come and lick the  salt. The day after the unit left Simla, it snowed heavily.