RK Studio had violated safety norms: Fire department

Mumbai: Taking a serious note of violations of fire safety norms, the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) on Wednesday issued a show-cause notice to the iconic c at Chembur asking why it should not be prosecuted under Maharastra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act 2006.

The MFB has also revoked the no-objection certificate (NoC) of the studio. The MFB, in its investigation, found that the studio had not complied with fire safety measures stipulated in the NoC, which was issued in the year 2014.

According to the fire brigade department, sprinkler system had not been installed in the studio, due to which the fire that erupted on September 16 spread rapidly.

RK Studio, which was founded by Bollywood legend Raj Kapoor, suffered extensive damages in the massive fire. One of the main shooting venues, where shooting of dance reality show ‘Super Dance Season 2’ was going on, was gutted in the incident.

“There were serious violations of fire safety norms in the RK studio. We observed that studio officials did not comply with the NoC that was provisionally given to them in 2014. After the NoC was issued, it was their duty to implement the fire safety measures and inform us that they have complied with all the fire safety norms that the fire brigade recommended. But they did not come back to us in the last three years,” said Prabhat Rahangdale, chief fire officer, MFB.

“The sprinker system was not installed, due to which fire spread rapidly in the studio. The non-compliance is a serious offence. We have issued a show-cause notice asking why prosecution should not be launched against them,” said Mr Rahangdale.

According to the officials, in 2014 after Studio 1 at the studio was upgraded, the management had approached the MFB for the NoC. The fire officials had visited the studio and suggested installation of firefighting equipments like sprinklers, alarms and smoke detectors. Following this, the MFB had issued provisional NoC to the studio.

The September 16 fire had started at around 2 pm from the ground floor of the studio building in the electrical wing, which was completely damaged in the incident. However, no casualties or injuries were reported in the fire.

RK Studio was founded and set up by Raj Kapoor in 1948. He made many well-known movies like Awaara, Shri 420, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, Mera Naam Joker, Bobby, Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Ram Teri Ganga Maili at the studio. The first film produced by the studio was Aag (1948). Its next project Barsaat, starring Nargis and Raj Kapoor, released in 1949 and was a major hit.

After Raj Kapoor’s death, his eldest son, actor Randhir Kapoor took over the studio.  Rishi Kapoor had also directed Aa Ab Laut Chalen under the banner.