Jaipur: Shooting of Salman Khan' film Veer at historic Amer Fort here will be discontinued with the Rajasthan High Court Friday ordering the film unit to pack up its bags from the protected monuments where a wall collapsed during filming on Thursday.
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 Veer also features state tourism minister Bina Kak.
The court took a strong view on the 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 landscape of the main courtyard of the entrance of Amer Fort, the palace and the temple has 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 errant officers but from the film producer for the damage to the public property and injuries caused to onlookers.
The court also noted that 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 was earlier mired in controversy with one Rajendra Singh challenging it on the grounds that it was violating the Monument Protection Act.
The Fort Authority had later cleared the decks on an assurance from filmmakers of Veer that assured them of taking precautions.
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