Director’s despair

After spending nearly a month in custody, filmmaker Kaizad Gustad and his two assistants Ashish Udeshi and Hadley D’Mello were granted bail on June 30, 2004. Gustad and his assistants had been detained in connection with the accidental death of assistant director, UK ­national Nadia Khan when shooting for the film Mumbai Central on the rail­way tracks near the Mahalaxmi station on May 25.

Gustad and Udeshi had been booked for six offences under the Indian Penal Code as noted in the Mid-Day of June 3: sec 182 —false information with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person, sec 201 — causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender, 202 — intentional omission to give informa­tion of offence by person bound to inform, 211 — false charge of offence made with intent to injure, 218 — public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save person from punishment or property from forfeiture, 304 (2) — culpable homicide not amounting to murder intentionally.

Gustad: granted bail

After their earlier two bail applications were rejected by the railway magistrate court and the city civil and sessions court, Justice Dilip Bhosale of the Bombay High Court granted them bail on the condition that they leave their passports with the police, cooperate with investigations and not leave the country without court consent. The accused were required to deposit Rs 35,000 plus sureties of the same amount.

Mumbai Central was supposed to be based on the labor class and a part of it was to feature the dabbawalas of the city, the president of The Tiffin and Lunch-box Carriers’ Associa­tion Raghunath Medge recalled meeting Gustad in an interview with The Afternoon of June 12. "It was a very exciting moment for us,” said Medge hoping that the maker of movies like Bombay Boys and Boom would bring to light the dabbawalas’ woes!