Mumbai's famous RK studios to undergo redevelopment after 2017 fire; Kapoor family draw two-phase plans

Eight months after the iconic RK Studios — built in 1945 by the showman of Indian film industry Raj Kapoor — was gutted in an unfortunate fire, the Kapoor clan has drawn plans for its future and is looking at development as an option, Mid Day  reports. [caption id=“attachment_4465767” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] RK Studios. Image from WIkimedia Commons[/caption] The family matriarch, Krishna Kapoor, wife of late Raj Kapoor and her sons Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Rajiv Kapoor; and daughters Ritu Nanda and Rima Jain have been toying between options of retaining studio filming facility and redeveloping other commercial structures in the two-acre plot of prime land in Chembur. “We are thinking of redevelopment. We are going to develop the place in two phases - one will have the facility of a studio, keeping the spirit of the studio alive. The rest will be developed [in the same way] that the other studios have done. There are few builders who we are in negotiations with, and we will develop it as a commercial place. It’s located in a strategic area, with the Mumbai-Pune highway close by. The new airport will also come up nearby. There are no hotels around in the area. So we are keeping all these factors in mind; we’re still in talks,” said Rishi Kapoor_._ His brother Randhir Kapoor has suggested that building a new studio is an expensive proposition today, especially in a day and age when studio shoots have reduced dramatically and most of the film industry is now concentrated in the western side of the city at the Film City_._ The iconic studio had suffered a massive loss of artifacts and precious memorabilia of Indian cinema history when on 16 September last year, the studio caught on fire on the set of Super Dancer 2.