The phrase goes 'art imitates life', however, all too often these days, life has imitated art. The norm these days is to hear about someone imitating a stunt or something else they have seen on screen, usually to their detriment. However, in this case, it was two of Hindi Cinema's best-known actors who were involved. They headed to Afghanistan to make a film about war correspondents living on the edge - only to find themselves actually facing threats from the Taliban.

Kabul Express, starring John Abraham and Arshad Warsi, tells the story of two Indian journalists chasing stories across deadly parts of Afghanistan during the days following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States after the Taliban was ousted.

A resurgent Taliban has made many parts of Afghanistan as dangerous today as it was five years ago, and as a result, while shooting in and around Kabul last year the stars and crew found themselves in the very same kind of danger they were trying to document.

In a recent interview, the film's director, Kabir Khan said that the Taliban's threats to kidnap Abraham, Arshad Warsi or members of the crew prompted Afghan officials to provide heavy security for them while they were filming.

"They had our names. We knew something like this may happen. But the ferocity with which it came was a little unnerving. You're bound to attract the attention of the Taliban shooting a feature film, which is banned by them, especially a Hindi feature film," he said. When they were in power, the hardline Taliban deemed films un-Islamic; films were included in broad laws that banned nearly all forms of entertainment.

The Kabul Express cast and crew had good reason to be afraid. While they were shooting, an Indian worker on a road-building project in southern Afghanistan was abducted and later killed - one of many abductions and killings in the country.

John Abraham and Arshad Warsi insisted the filming in Afghanistan be completed. "It was not out of any foolish sense of adventure. John is a very well read person and once we were clear that things could be made secure, we went ahead," Kabir Khan said.

Kabul Express is slatted for released 15 December.