FILM & TV SHOW SHOOTS STALLED IN MUMBAI

Mumbai is the city which is known for getting back on track when its down. The city which never stops was called off a total shut (Bandh) yesterday but despite reports of incidents of stone pelting, raasta roko, train delays and protests in various pockets of the city, work on the sets of Mumbai's film and television sets progressed, though at a sluggish pace and with a lesser number of technicians, workers and actors in attendance.

In some cases, like on the sets of Remo D'Souza's film 'Race 3' and television shows 'Kasam' (starring Ssharad Malhotra and Kratika Sengar) and Bhabi Ji Ghar Par Hai, work even came to a grinding halt.

"The construction of my set had to be stopped because most of the workers couldn't make it to the location. Some busy actors have given their dates to the film, and incidents like this have the potential to mess that up because delays have a cascading effect," says Remo.

The team of 'Kasam' was shooting at a studio near Saki Naka in Andheri East, when a mob marched on to the set, demanding that the shoot of the daily soap be stopped. "It was scary. It happened in the first half of the day, when we were just getting our make-up done. All of a sudden, we had this furious mob barge on to our sets. They hurled abuses at us and their body language was scary. They threatened to break our equipment if we didn't stop work immediately, says Ssharad Malhotra.

Ashoke Pandit, the president of the Indian Film And Television Directors' Association, said, "There are heavy monetary losses, especially for those producers and directors who are working on TV shows because these are day-on-day capsules that have to be telecast. The spiral effect can be damaging for them. But it's good on their part to not risk the lives of workers, technicians and artistes."

Well, we hope that Mumbai gets back on track as soon as possible and there's no harm to anyone across.