HYDERABAD: If Fire Department officials are to be believed, the film set of megastar Chiranjeevi’s ‘Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy’ was meant to be burnt down. Sooner or later. Though Friday’s mishap has come as a shock for many in the industry as well as the fans, it is learnt that film sets are often burnt down after the completion of shooting, a trend that is very much prevalent in Tollywood.
In Sye Raa’s case, lack of fire extinguishers or water tankers could have contributed to the mishap or rather ‘advanced’ damage to the set.
According to Fire Department officials, film sets are torched by the production houses themselves, after completion of the shooting, to avoid costs of labour in dismantling the elaborate sets.
It would be recorded in official books as “rubbish fire”, the one that was caused to abandoned property due to unknown reasons, they said.
Like the massive Rs 3 crore movie set of Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, several film sets are temporarily constructed by hundreds of labourers, under the guidance of an art director. From intricate details of how the set should be shaped to its sheer size, every aspect of a set requires artistry of several skilled persons.
But to take them down, a sizable workforce is required which is not usually employed by film production houses.
“There are many film sets that are burnt by one of the persons involved in the production as they do not want to incur costs of deploying labour and dismantle or take them down in a safe manner,” informed an official involved in the investigation.
“A lot of film sets are erected in secluded places of the city or on large open areas as it is easy to burn the sets down without getting the attention of the public. In most cases, police complaints are not filed,” said a fire services personnel.