Ranveer Singh has begun shooting for Pralay after the record-breaking run of Dhurandhar and Dhurandhar The Revenge, but the production has opened a fresh controversy over the use of Mumbai’s Azad Maidan.
What happened at Azad Maidan
According to a Mumbai Mirror report cited by Bollywood Hungama, the Maharashtra government’s sports department granted Light Rays, the Mumbai-based production house backing Pralay, a six-hour slot. The approval covered 5,000 square yards of government land at a rental of Rs 40,000, with a further Rs 40,000 collected as refundable security.
The Mumbai Cricket Association has objected. It says the shoot forced the postponement of Under-14 and Under-16 inter-school cricket matches that had been planned in advance.
The MCA’s objection
MCA Apex Council member Nadim Memon told Mumbai Mirror that Azad Maidan is not a film-shooting venue but a cricket ground where players progress to the international level. “This is the first time a film shoot has taken place at Azad Maidan,” he said. The association has written to the Deputy Director of Sports to record its displeasure.
Memon’s argument is that junior cricket cannot be moved for commercial convenience. He asked who would take responsibility for the loss to the ground’s sporting calendar, and argued that the sports department should support sport rather than allow commercial bookings at a cricket ground.
The permission’s fine print
The approval came with restrictions aimed at protecting the pitches:
- No vehicles were to be brought onto the cricket pitches.
- No cooking, digging or any activity that could damage the ground was permitted.
- The production had to secure police, traffic and BMC permissions, plus a no-objection certificate from the MCA.
- An undertaking on a Rs 100 stamp paper was required.
The permission was signed by Sports Department Under Secretary Ashok Damayyawar on October 30 and forwarded by the Deputy Director of Sports and Youth Services, Mumbai, on November 2.
Why the row matters
Azad Maidan is one of Mumbai’s tiered open-air cricket spaces, used for school and inter-state cricket. The dispute is more than a routine location clash: it is a collision between Hindi cinema’s demand for real locations and the city’s limited sporting infrastructure.
The conflict also exposes a governance question for Mumbai, a city that is both Hindi cinema’s production base and a centre of school cricket. When a sports department permits a commercial use of a ground that developing players rely on, it is effectively deciding that location revenue can sit alongside athlete development. The fact that this is the first such permission at Azad Maidan makes the precedence argument especially pointed.
For production teams, the sequence is a reminder that a government permit is only the first clearance. The consent of the ground’s regular users carries the real operational weight, because a single six-hour commercial slot can displace a calendar of junior fixtures.
Source: bollywoodHungama.com
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