Assistant’s catering request at tea stall brought auditioners

Mumbai: What began as a modest catering request at a Powai tea stall turned into the first link in Thursday's hostage crisis. Rohan Aher, who police said worked with Rohit Aarrya as a production assistant, approached the stall owner, Umesh Tiwari, asking if he could supply tea and food to the nearby RA studio "for the next few days"When Tiwari enquired about the activity at the studio, Aher told him that it was a children's film audition. Curious, Tiwari asked if his own son could try out. "He agreed and said they needed 18-20 more kids," Tiwari recalled. The next day, he brought his sons, his brother's daughters, and a few neighbour's children. Only his elder son, Prince, was selected. Prince returned for three days of auditions. But every day, the scene involved the same act—pretending to be kidnapped—said his mother, Nisha Tiwari. "They made the children act like they were cleaning a beach, and then as if they were being abducted," she said. She smelled a rat and refused to send Prince after three days. Soon, the children were divided into groups called ‘studio', ‘return' and ‘exit'. Those in the ‘exit' group had to go outside and hug their parents, while others stayed back. "That's when I sensed something was wrong," said Nisha. "I told Prince not to go again." On the final day, when screams rang out from the studio, Tiwari rushed to the building. Parents outside begged him for help. "I climbed up the scaffolding," he said. "But Aarrya pointed a gun at me through the glass." Terrified, he climbed down and called police and informed them about the "armed captor". "That's when we realised," he said, "that the children were no longer acting—they were hostages."