Celebrities including Mahesh Bhatt, Soni Razdan and Vinta Nanda have taken the Maharashtra government to court for its inability to help people affected by the torrential rains in Mumbai that have destroyed life and property.

The public interest litigation is filed by Bhatt and supported by Raman Kumar, Ashok Pandit, Razdan and several other prominent personalities.

"Let us hope this step will compel the authorities and the civic agencies to start functioning after its inaction of all these years," says filmmaker Vinta Nanda.

"We want to make the government accountable for its system failure. The citizens of Mumbai fought a lone battle for life and the administration was offering lame excuses for its inaction."

Nanda said the floods had awakened Mumbaikars about the harsh realities of a system long neglected and unable to cope.