Why Aditya Dhar’s Production House Was Just Permanently Blacklisted

In a letter to the Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC) of Zone 1, the civic body on Monday also sought a penalty of Rs 1 lakh for filming on a building terrace and for using two generator vans without adequate permissions.

It has also called for forfeiture of the Rs 25,000 deposit submitted by the applicant. The actions follow frequent violations of norms on the film sets in A ward, where authorities first flagged violations on February 7 and 8. Hours after the ward office sought permissions, the BMC’s DMC of Zone 1 granted permissions on Monday for action over the violations.

According to the civic body, the Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation Limited received an application from the production house seeking permission to shoot portions of the movie between February 7 and 8. On January 30, the authority granted permission for shooting between A ward’s Modi Street and the Perin Nariman Street.

Officials claimed that the film set “completely violated” the police department’s terms and conditions, which prohibited the use of crackers and flammable materials.

The authorities forfeited the deposits following the incident and issued warnings of blacklisting.

Thereafter, officials said the Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation Limited received yet another application from one Komal Pokhriyal for filming between February 13 and February 14.
Citing previous violations, the authorities cancelled the application, prompting the applicant to file a fresh application on the Maharashtra Film Corporation website seeking permission to shoot between 12.30 am and 4 am on February 14.

Use of flammable materials

According to BMC officials, the applicant assured that no flammable materials would be used during the shooting, following which permissions were granted. Records show that the applicant was issued permissions subject to NOC from the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee to erect temporary tents in the heritage Fort area.

A senior BMC official said that on February 14, despite the assurance, the Mumbai police received complaints of the use of flammable materials like lit torches around 12.45 am during the course of the shooting.

“After receiving the complaint again after 15 minutes, the officials from Mumbai police arrived on the site and the five torches (Mashals) lit during the shoot were seized by the police. It was also ensured that no flammable object was used during the course of the shoot till 4 am,” said the BMC official.

In light of the second incident, applicants assured authorities that all visuals of flammable objects would be shot in VFX.

The A ward’s letter to the DMC, accessed by The Indian Express, sought final nod to forfeit the deposit amount of Rs 25,000, register the torches seized on location during the filming of the reference at the checkpoint at Mint Road, impose a fine of Rs 1 lakh for filming on the terrace of the building at the relevant filming location and for using two generator vans without permission during filming and for committing serious violations that could endanger the safety of residents.

It also sought to permanently blacklist the applicants, Komal Pokhriyal and Nasir Khan, and the production house for filming permission work with the Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation Limited website. Aditya Dhar, co-founder of B62 production studio, could not be reached for a comment.