A film set created in Bhopal, India for Prakash Jha’s upcoming film Aarakshan was bulldozed entirely by the local civic authorities, claiming that the structure created was illegal. The film, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Saif Ali Khan, Manoj Bajpayee and Prateik has been nearing completion with a little patchwork pending at the Bhopal location, planned for later this month. Unfortunately with this latest incident, the schedule has been disrupted and the production house is scurrying to find alternatives. The set that had taken the art department approximately 4 months to construct was built on a disputed land that Prakash Jha productions had taken on lease from Minal Residency Group. Undeniably, Prakash Jha is livid, as he is positive about his team having all the right permits in place and the same was communicated to the authorities accordingly. Unfortunately, ordered by the district magistrate’s office, the 1.5-acre set, which included a bungalow, has been destroyed.
“We had no idea that the land where we had constructed the set was disputed. But I do feel that even though the demolition had to go through, the authorities knew we had constructed only temporary structures for the purpose of shooting. Why demolish it? It would have been dismantled within a month. Everyone in Bhopal knew it was a set,” Prakash Jha said.
