Mumbai: Film shoot at JJ hospital stopped despite NOC

A vanity van parked in the JJ hospital premises on Wednesday. Pic/Shadab Khan

The shooting of a new film starring actress Tamanna Bhatia was stopped at JJ hospital on Wednesday afternoon after the Minister of Medical Education Hasan Mushrif issued a stay order. The shooting was scheduled to take place for approximately 10 days on the hospital premises. In 2005, the state government's health officer had advised against filming inside government hospitals.

The production house told mid-day that it had obtained all necessary permissions from the Health Ministry and a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the police station. However, it suffered significant losses after the shooting was abruptly halted by hospital authorities in the afternoon. Subsequently, the production team packed up equipment at the site and is now waiting to regain the permission.

Speaking with mid-day, Mushrif said, "We received information that a film shoot was taking place at JJ hospital, and we immediately informed the hospital management and dean to stop it. We also sent a letter to the hospital to stay the permission they had granted. We are currently investigating who gave the permission to the production house for the shoot."

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Meanwhile, JJ hospital Dean Pallavi Saple said, "We had received letters from the health department and a NOC, and based on these documents, we granted permission for the shoot. Actress Tamanna Bhatia was present with her team, shooting for an upcoming film. On Wednesday, we received a letter from the health ministry ordering a stay on the shoot. We immediately informed the production team and halted it."

Mateen Khan, the location manager for the production house, told mid-day: "We obtained permission from the health department and also an NOC from the police. Suddenly, on Wednesday, we received a letter from the hospital authority stating that we were not allowed to continue shooting. We have incurred a significant loss of Rs 1.5 crore-Rs 2 crore. We had created a set of a courtroom and other scenes at JJ hospital. We carried out our work with all the necessary permissions."

In 2004, some scenes for the film ‘Bunty Aur Babli' - starring Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan - were shot at St George's Hospital. During the shoot, patients were disturbed and complained to the authorities. Subsequently, in 2005, the former director general of health services, Dr Subhash Salunkhe advised against filming in government hospitals. As a result, several Bollywood directors sought permission to shoot at Cama hospital in 2006 but were denied.

10
Approx no of days of shooting