Two horses injured on set of Ek Mahanayak Dr BR Ambedkar, PETA files police complaint

PETA has registered a police complaint after two horses were injured on the set of a television show titled Ek Mahanayak: Dr BR Ambedkar.

PETA urges film and television productions to use CGI for scenes involving animals.

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The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has filed a complaint at the Aarey police station against Sobo Films, after photos and video showing two horses getting injured on the set of an upcoming television show emerged online. At least one horse sustained a fracture after the horses, hitched to a carriage, crashed into a barrier on the set of Ek Mahanayak: Dr BR Ambedkar. Indian Express reached out to the channel and production house for comment, but didn’t receive a response.

PETA India has also sent a formal complaint regarding the incident to the Animal Welfare Board of India, and sent a formal complaint to Dr Avinash Dhakane, IAS, the managing director of Maharashtra Film, Stage & Cultural Development Corporation Limited, a government body which manages Film City. In 2021, PETA had lodged an FIR against Madras Talkies, after a horse died on the set of Ponniyin Selvan: I.

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“In the age of computer-generated imagery (CGI), production companies have no excuse for forcing exhausted horses to perform until one of them breaks a bone or drops dead,” says PETA India Cruelty Response Coordinator Saloni Sakaria. “Compassionate, forward-thinking film and TV producers would never dream of hauling sensitive animals to a chaotic set and forcing them to ‘act’. PETA India is calling on all film and show makers to cut the cruelty and switch to modern, humane CGI and other visual-effects technology.”

In Hollywood, production on the big-budget 2011 HBO show Luck, starring Dustin Hoffman and executive produced by Michael Mann, was abruptly shut down after three horses died during production. PETA also urged Amazon to investigate the death of a horse during rehearsals on Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series last year. “It seems that living underground with the orcs is par for the course for the producers of ‘The Rings of Power,’ because they have the option to use CGI, mechanical rigs and other humane methods that wouldn’t run vulnerable horses to death on set,” PETA senior vice president Lisa Lange wrote in a statement to Variety.

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