Manju Warrier and her 35-member crew to stay back
LAHAUL SPITI( Himachal Pradesh): Malayalam superstar Manju Warrier and her 35-member film crew have decided to stay back in flood-hit remote village of Himachal Pradesh to complete the shooting for their next documentary.
When the Mandi district administration approached the film crew stranded in Chhatru, the members refused to leave and gave in writing that they are staying back “at their own risk”.
“We have packed up our luggage keeping in view the weather here. We will leave for Manali as soon as a road in Gramphu area is repaired. If we face any difficulty, the administration will not be responsible for it,” Ganga Ram, a member of the film crew, wrote in a note to the police.
“The administration has been asking us to leave Chhatru for the last four days. We will be fully responsible if any untoward incident happens during our stay,” the written statement said.
Ganga Ram, a team member of the film crew stranded at a Himachal village acknowledged that they were contacted by authorities to leave the area but were staying at the place at ‘their own risk’. “We have packed up our luggage keeping in view the weather here. We will leave for Manali as soon as a road in Gramphu area is repaired.
Meanwhile, if we face any difficulty, the administration will not be responsible for it,” Ram, wrote in a note to the police. When authorities along with police went to the village in Lahul-Spiti district to rescue the film unit and bring them to Manali, the crew refused to leave the place.
“The administration has been asking us to leave Chhatru for the last four days. We will be fully responsible if any untoward incident happens during our stay”, the team gave in writing to the police. The team, consisting of 11 locals, had gone to the scenic village to shoot a documentary along with filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan.
Warrier had reportedly reached out to her brother after an access road to the Mandi-Leh highway collapsed due to landslip, leaving her and the crew stranded.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Ramesh had on Tuesday said that Warrier along with her team was being rescued from the place where they were stranded.
Junior foreign minister V Muraleedharan, who was yesterday contacted by Manju Warrier’s brother to help in the film star’s rescue, tweeted about the crew’s decision to stay back.
As many as 63 people lost their lives in the region this monsoon season, the Chief Minister confirmed on Tuesday.
(With Inputs From ANI)
