Rajasthan High Court on Thursday permited the shooting of Salman Khan starrer Veer at Amber Fort.
Last week, the shooting of this period film was stalled after 15 people including two camera persons were injured when a portion of 20-foot long wall at the historic Amber Fort collapsed during the shooting of the film.
The court has allowed the shoot for four days but the film’s producer will have to pay a compensation of Rs 20 lakh.
The court, which had slammed state officials for their “greed” and “madness” that had created havoc at the 16th century monument during the filming earlier, said the Rs 20 lakh compensation would also include ex-gratia for 15 people injured in a wall collapse in the Fort during the shooting on February 12.
The order was passed by a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice R C Gandhi and Justice M N Bhandari.
While putting a stop to the filming on February 13 after taking suo motu cognisance of media reports, the court had said, “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.”
Justices Gandhi and Bhandari also directed the superintendent of Amber Fort, Zafarullah, to keep a watch against any damage to the Fort and monitor the activities of the crew during the four days time granted to finish the shooting.
The order came on the plea of the film producer, Vijay Dalani, seeking resumption of shooting of the film featuring state Tourism Minister Bina Kak besides Bollywood star Salman Khan.
The court also lifted curbs slapped on the media on publication of any report on its proceedings over the issue.
The curbs were imposed on a petition filed by the film producer. The earlier direction to stop shooting of film had been given by a Division Bench comprising Justice Ashok Parihar and Justice G S Sarraf.
They had sought a detailed report with regard to permission for constructing a huge set and film shooting in the complex. “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 in Amber Palace is a glaring example of the same,” the court had said.
The shooting of Veer, which is directed by Anil Sharma, was earlier mired in controversy with one Rajendra Singh challenging it on the grounds that it was violative of the Monument Protection Act.
The Amber Fort Authority later cleared the decks after the filmmakers assured them of taking all precautions to ensure that no damage was caused to the fort during the shooting.
