Fire at Mumbai's Film City: no injuries as blaze doused; cine workers demand FIR
A fire broke out at a temporary production unit inside Mumbai's Film City in Goregaon (East) on Monday afternoon, sending a large plume of smoke into the air over the studio complex. No injuries have been reported.
The Mumbai Fire Brigade said it received a call at 4:02 p.m. about a Level-I fire behind the premises of Reliance Media Works and Prime Focus. The blaze was confined to a Production Control Room (PCR) unit measuring about 100 feet by 20 feet, set up at a temporary location behind Prime Focus Studio.
According to the Fire Brigade, the fire affected electrical wiring, cables, installations, wooden planks, air-conditioning units, bamboo, plastic, sound systems and shooting equipment inside the unit.
Fire Brigade personnel, local police, the BMC's ward control room and a 108 ambulance team were mobilised. The blaze was brought under control by 4:55 p.m., within about an hour of the first report. There were no immediate reports of anyone trapped or injured.
The All Indian Cine Workers Association (AICWA) said in a post on X that the incident reflected what it described as habitual negligence on film sets, and that workers were the ones who bore the consequences. The association demanded that an FIR be registered against the channel, producer and production house concerned, and sought the resignation of the Managing Director of Film City. In its post, the association referred to the set of a television serial; the channel concerned was not identified in the text available. These demands could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate response from the production house, the channel or Film City authorities.
The cause of the fire is not yet known. A formal inquiry is expected, and officials have not commented on whether any safety lapses contributed to the incident.
Film City, spread over hundreds of acres in Goregaon (East), is among India's largest studio complexes, managed by a Maharashtra government undertaking. It houses numerous film and television sets, many of them temporary structures, and hosts a large daily workforce of technicians, carpenters, electricians, light and sound crews, and junior artistes.
Fires on film and television sets are not uncommon. Temporary sets often bring together wood, bamboo, plastic, fabric and heavy electrical loads, a combination in which a small spark can spread quickly. Worker associations have for years sought stricter fire-safety audits, mandatory clearances for temporary structures, and clearer accountability when production houses use open land or studio floors.
In such incidents, the questions that usually follow are whether the unit held valid fire-safety certification, whether electrical fittings met the prescribed code, and whether the crew had been trained to respond. Under Maharashtra's fire-safety rules, temporary structures used for commercial shooting require clearances, with responsibility for compliance resting on the occupier and the studio management.
This report will be updated as more information becomes available.
