After spotting dust particles, strands of hair and what looked liked traces of blood in the sealed bottles, the producer is demanding compensation
Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 2, 2015)

Filmmaker Vipul Shah's (Waqt, Singh is Kinng) production house, Sunshine Pictures, has sent a written complaint to Bisleri International for dispatching bottles containing dust particles, red 'blood-like' traces, and hair to the set in Madh Island where the crew is currently filming the TV show, Pukaar.

The letter, of which Mirror has a copy, states that in November, Rannvijay Singha, the lead actor of the show, found a foreign body floating in a 250 ml Bisleri bottle taken from a box of 25. After the other boxes were opened, crew members discovered suspicious foreign bodies floating in the sealed bottles, one of which looked like a long strand of hair.

Aashin Shah, one of the senior executives from Vipul's production unit told Mirror, “Not just dust particles, a vendor told us that he had also discovered cigarette butts in a sealed Bisleri bottle! We were horrified and immediately brought this to the notice of the company. They told us to speak to the vendor which we did, but no action was taken. They simply apologised.”

In January, crew members discovered red particles that looked like blood inside one of the bottles. “We had to replace all 24 cartons,” informed Shah, adding that though a complaint was once again registered, the company didn’t seem interested in addressing the issue.

The unit is now demanding compensation for the “embarrassment“ caused and reimbursement for replacing entire cartels of contaminated bottles. “We have already discontinued their services because of the lack of customer support and have notified other industry members about the same,“ said Shah. “Our legal team is now processing papers to take them to court.“

Mirror reached out to the Quality Control Manager of Bisleri's Mumbai plant. She admitted that she was aware of the case but refused to comment, saying, “Please talk to our plant manager.“

The plant head, Ashish Raval, said, “Yes, there was a particular batch (305) which was not meant to be in circulation. By mistake, it was dispatched. Those units have now been recalled.“