Film directors turn city heritage into blank canvas

Shoots invariably leave behind a trail of destruction

The film is yet untitled but different spaces are being created for shooting actor Nitin’s next at the Irram Manzil complex. Worried heritage activists rushed to the site after the front portion was given a coat of white. “The filming will begin on Monday,” said the person coordinating the shoot. Set designers, workers and craftsmen work on different portions of the large complex. While some hammer a wooden board to hide cracks in the wall, others paint the cornices to hide the damaged portion of the railing of the 100-year-old building.

While the Telangana Film Development Corporation has streamlined permissions with online applications for shoots, other locations have an ad hoc mechanism. For Irram Manzil, the Roads and Building Department has a pointsman who is in charge of giving permissions and for coordination so that they don’t overlap. Officials try to ensure that no damage is done to the premises but a trail of destruction is left behind after a shoot. A few months ago, when a web series was shot there, the frontage was turned into a kitschy Gothic palace and once the plywood and polystyrene were removed, there were gaping holes.

In another part of Hyderabad is the Ritz Hotel or the erstwhile residence of Nizamath Jung, a poet and judicial officer during the Nizam’s reign. “When we went there for a survey, two film crews were checking out the place for shoot,” says an architect. The building is owned by the Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation and was in the news when the High Court ordered restoration and conservation of the building. While the building has been used for shooting movies like Bhagmati as it was used for Silly Fellows and a host of other movies.

“I have seen the Khurshid Jah Devdi painted in every colour of the rainbow. It is such a grand building but it is being misused when film crews use it as a blank canvas,” says photographer Ssaurabh Chatterjee.  

While the city’s heritage buildings are an opportunity to showcase the cultural wealth of Hyderabad, the countless film and web-series shoots without supervision are only harming the old structures.