HC stops shooting of Salman’s film at Amer Fort

Saturday, February 14, 2009 at 4:02 am

Shooting of Salman Khan’s film ‘Veer’ at historic Amer Fort here will be discontinued with the Rajasthan High Court today (Feb 13) ordering the film unit to pack up its bags from the protected monument where a wall collapsed during filming yesterday (Feb 12).

While ordering the film unit to stop shooting, a Division Bench comprising Justice Ashok Parihar and Justice G S Sarraf also issued a notice to the state government to explain why strict norms related to “protected” historical monuments were not followed in the case.

“Money and greed, coupled with power create blindness, madness and the person becomes totally insane and insensitive. When the Government and public authorities indulge in such practice, a great havoc is created resulting in chaos all around. The episode and mishap happened in Amer Palace, Jaipur yesterday is a glaring example of the same,” the court said.

Besides, Bollywood star Salman Khan the film also features state tourism minister Bina Kak. The court took a strong view on yesterday’s incident in which at least 15 onlookers, including two cameramen, were injured when a portion of wall at the historic Amer Fort collapsed during shooting of the film.

It also sought a detailed report with regard to giving permission for constructing a huge set and film shooting in the complex even though there is restriction on photography and video shooting for the tourists there.

“The entire original land-scape of the main courtyard at the entrance of Amer Fort, Palace and Temple have been destroyed. The trees, fountains, flower beds covered by carved stone Jalees have been razed to the ground, may be, to allow the construction of huge sets for film shootings as in the present case,” the court said.

The court also asked the authorities to explain why adequate compensation may not be recovered not only from the erring officers but from the film producer for the damage to the public property and injuries caused to onlookers.

The court also noted, the very basic structure and original grandeur have been “massively” tampered with under the pretext of development where huge funds are pocketed by a few persons who do not even have a basic knowledge of history and architecture.

“Unfortunately, not only the public but especially the concerned authorities have become blind, deaf and dumb in the glitter of money. In recent past, historical protected monuments have become commercial source of income,” it said.

The shooting of ‘Veer’, produced by Vijay Gailani and directed by Anil Sharma, at the Fort, 20 km from here was earlier mired in controversy with one Rajendra Singh challenging it on the grounds that it was violative of the Monument Protection Act. The Fort Authority had later cleared the decks on an assurance from filmmakers that assured them of taking precautions.

“The authorities not even have anticipated and visualised the unforeseen accidents and mishaps at such places of great importance while giving permission for not only constructing a huge set but shooting a commercial film with so-called famous stars which has ultimately resulted in not only large-scale damages to the building but serious injuries to large number of people,” the court said.

The Amer Fort is a protected monument which attracts tourists from across the world. There is also a famous Sheetla Mata temple in the complex.

(With inputs from agencies)

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

HC stops shooting of Salman’s film at Amer Fort

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