Apparently, the producer/director has been denied permission by the Animal Welfare Board to use rodents in his film

Rakesh Roshan's upcoming film Krissh 3, which is currently under production was denied permission by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) to include rats in one of the scenes. The board has also sought an explanation for scorpions and frogs that were found misused earlier on their sets.

In the application made by them, Roshan's production house sought permission to include five rats. This was for a scene in which the artiste would keep all these animals and insects in a lab because he is shown to be an animal lover in the film.

However, AWBI denied the application late last month. And instead, they asked the applicant to explain about the snakes, scorpions, frogs and other creatures that were seen loitering around on the sets.

It was recently reported that the script of the film demanded real reptiles rather than animated versions. Hrithik Roshan had assured that the reptiles would not harm others or get harmed, as there were trained professionals to look after them.

The other side

When we tried contacting Major General R M Kharb, the chairman of AWBI, he was unavailable for comment.

However, on AWBI's website, the status of the application made on December 22 by Roshan's production house clearly mentions that the permission given may not be approved as the applicant needs to explain the reports on the reptiles that were found on the sets.

Speaking on the issue, Rakesh Roshan said, "We used dummies for long shots and for the close-ups we will be doing it on computer graphics."

Do you know?

The Bombay High Court issued a judgment on August 22, 2005, which required the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) to ask applicants to furnish a no-objection certificate from the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) before certifying any film in which animals have been used.

There have been numerous cases of animals that have suffered ill treatment during filmmaking. Some animals have even suffered serious injuries, while some have even died. Some animals are drugged to make them easier to work with, and many have their teeth and claws surgically removed or impaired.