And now it threatens to burn Sajid Nadiadwalas. Because if it proves to be uncontrollable, as it appears to be at the moment, the fire may spread to those areas of the studio where Sajid is all set to shoot his 20-million dollar project Kambhakt Ishq with Akshay Kumar from the middle of June.
"Fortunately the fire has so far not spread to the floors where we shoot, " said Sajid hopefully on Monday morning, even as he sat huddled with Spiro Razatos, the star- stuntman who has done the action in such Hollywood blockbusters as Vantage Point, Bad Boys 2 and 21 Grams.
Says Sajid, "The fire has been devastating. They've lost a lot of films in their archives including the original print of Ben Hur.But so far the area where we're supposed to shoot remains unaffected. So for now we're proceeding on schedule. Let's see."
Spiro has been brought in to make Akshhay Kumar's stunts extra-special at an exorbitant price. "But he's worth it. Kambhakt Ishq is not about stunts. It's about the life of a stuntman played by Akshay Kumar. I've brought in Spiro to serve as a model for Akshay's character."
Sajid claims there're many similarities between Spiro and Akshay's character. "They're both unmarried completely wedded to their work. Though my film is about a stuntman there's only four major stunts in the plot, one of them being the climactic chase sequence on the highways of LA."
As excited as a schoolkid Sajid narrates how Spiro showed him all the stunts.
"He had these little cars, like those model cars from our school days, which he demonstrated in my office to show how the action scenes will look on screen.
But like I said Kambhakt Ishq is not about the stunts but the life of a stuntman.Kareena Kapoor plays an international super-model. The pair is constantly at loggerheads."
Provided the fire doesn't eat into his schedules.
The tentative schedule takes the team to Hollywood for 50 days followed by 20 days in Italy.
"It's my biggest film ever. But then the next one may be even bigger, " says Sajid optimistically.