Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; January 8, 2015)

That Bollywood is a ruthless industry with undertones of indifference and dispassion is no secret. But, Kabir Khan seems to have his heart in the right place. Bucking the usual practice of delaying compensation to bereaved families of workers, the filmmaker acted quickly when a lightman on the sets of Bajrangi Bhaijaan died of cardiac arrest last month.

A source close to the unit says since the hectic shoot schedule, the 38-year-old worker, Munib Ansari, was on duty round the clock and suffered a heart attack. Within 10 days of the death, Khan cleared his dues and offered compensation to his wife who lives in a village near Mumbai. “Generally, compensations take a long time to be delivered but in this case, Kabir Khan showed he has high ethical standards by handing over a cheque of R 8.40 lakh to his wife Zainab Khatoon,” the source suggests.

Rakesh Maurya, joint secretary of the Allied Mazdoor Union, says, “This has been the quickest compensation and payment made to the family of a deceased worker. Otherwise, they are made to wait endlessly. Ansari’s dues amounted to Rs 62,100 and the rest was compensation.”

Khan remained unavailable for comment.

MID-DAY (December 13, 2014)

A 36-year-old lightman died of a cardiac arrest at ND Studio in Karjat on Wednesday. Munib Ansari has been shooting for Kabir Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan for some time now.

Gangeshwar Srivastav, general secretary of Film Studio Setting and Allied Mazdoor Union expressed his grief. “Ansari was in the hotel room when he suffered a heart attack. It was a morning shift and some of our members were present there Ansari suffered a massive attack and died on the spot.”

Ansari lived with his cousin in Mumbai. “His dead body has been sent to his native place and producers have taken care of it. The union expects death compensation of R 7 lakh as he had been working as lightman for nearly 13 years.” adds Srivastav.

The Federation of Western India Cine Employees has already been working a project that will take care of medical issues of workers.

Saddened by Ansari’s death, general secretary of FWICE, Dilip Pithwa said that one does not know what kind of pressure and stress the worker is going through when he comes to work. “We are working towards holding regular health check up or workers. A request letter has been sent to TV producers to donate R 10,000 each that will go towards health care of workers. One hopes they cooperate with us.”

Kabir has taken care of expenses and when contacted, the director said, “It is sad that he suffered a heart attack. He was with me for my other project Phantom as well.”