One person was killed when a massive fire engulfed an open-air film studio set near the Andheri Sports Complex on Friday, BMC Disaster Control said. The blaze was noticed around 4.30 p.m. in the Chitrakoot Studio, spread across over 5,000 square feet where 2 decorative film shooting sets were erected, and thick clouds of smoke were seen billowing out. Following an alert from the NDRF, the Mumbai Fire Brigade and other rescue agencies rushed to spot with around 10 fire tenders to battle the conflagration.
The blaze was brought under control after four hours and the body of Manish Devashi, 32, was retrieved from the tragedy site. The cause of the fire is being probed and the victim's details are awaited. The BMC said that the fire was completely extinguished by 10.30 p.m. and cooling operations are underway. Meanwhile, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) spokesperson Shashikant Singh said that the victim was reportedly a lightman working on the pre-lighting work on the dual sets, erected for a Rajshri Productions film and another movie by filmmaker Luv Ranjan. The second film, titled Anaam, stars Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, who were scheduled to shoot a song there, though both actors were not on the set at the time of the tragedy.
FWICE President B.N. Tiwari, and General Secretary Ashok Dube have expressed shock over the tragedy. Both Tiwari and Dube said that in view of such a growing number of incidents, they have repeatedly written to the BMC and state government demanding stricter regulations for film sets. However, their pleas have not been heeded and film sets are erected anywhere without giving die weightage to safety issues which result in such calamities, said FWICE.
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