A fire on a temporary set at Film City in Mumbai forced the crews of two major television shows to evacuate on Monday afternoon, after smoke drifted from a stage for Pati Patni Aur Panga 2 into the neighbouring sets of Kaun Banega Crorepati and Hustle Season 5. Nobody was injured, but production stopped for nearly 90 minutes.
What happened on the ground
The blaze broke out around 4 pm near Prime Focus Studio in Goregaon East, on the outer shade of a temporary setup being used for Pati Patni Aur Panga 2. No shooting was scheduled on that set at the time, so the space was clear as smoke reached the adjoining stages.
Amitabh Bachchan had to step out of the KBC set, while rapper Badshah, actor Samarth Jurel and the contestants of Hustle Season 5 were evacuated from their finale shoot. Tents outside the two sets also caught fire and were completely burnt, but the fire brigade brought the blaze under control before it spread further.
A near miss raises a familiar warning
Ashok Dubey, president of the All India Film Employees Confederation and general secretary of FWICE, said the outcome could have been far worse if the Pati Patni Aur Panga 2 team had been filming. “Fortunately, there was no shoot on the Pati Patni Aur Panga set; otherwise, it could have resulted in a major accident,” he said.
Dubey added that fires at shooting locations are being reported with increasing frequency, recalling a short-circuit fire at Royal Palms around ten days earlier. He has repeatedly asked for structural audits, fire compliance checks and safety inspections before productions begin.
“We can’t wait for a major tragedy to happen before swinging into action,” he said. The federation has taken up the matter with the labour department, the BMC and fire authorities, and plans to write again to the Chief Minister and Cultural Affairs Minister Ashish Shelar to push for a formal safety committee.
Workers’ bodies demand accountability
The All India Cine Workers Association has written to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking a high-level inquiry. Its demands include:
- A time-bound inquiry into how the fire started and why safety arrangements were missing.
- An FIR for negligence against the channel, producer and production house.
- The resignation of the Film City managing director.
AICWA president Suresh Shyamlal Gupta called the incident “criminal negligence,” adding that thousands of workers and artists enter sets every day without basic fire safety. The association wants compulsory fire audits, trained safety personnel and firefighting equipment on every set, with licences cancelled for productions that do not comply.
What the pause signals
The disruption is a reminder of how closely built film and television sets operate: flames do not have to reach a shoot to stop it. Smoke alone cleared a quiz show stage and a music-reality finale, and production only resumed after the fire brigade declared the area safe.
The bigger question is whether this near miss turns into stricter inspections, or becomes another warning that is forgotten once the sets switch on again.
Source: Hindustan Times