BENGALURU: In a stunt scene gone horribly wrong, two Kannada actors and stuntmen are feared to have drowned to death after they jumped from a helicopter into a lake on the city outskirts during a film shooting on Monday afternoon.
However, Duniya Vijay, lead actor of the movie, miraculously survived after a rescue team member swam to give him a life jacket. The actors feared dead are Uday (28) and Anil (31). Search operations to trace their bodies continued till late Monday evening.
The incident took place at around 2.45pm during the shooting of the climax scene of the film 'Masti Gudi' in Thippagondanahalli reservoir, 35 km from Bengaluru in Ramanagara district. Video grabs of the incident show
Anil and Uday jumping together from the helicopter into the lake and Vijay following them.
An eyewitness said, "While Anil never surfaced after the plunge, Uday was seen struggling to swim before he went down." It turned out that the rescue boat nearby was defunct. The rescue team that swam caught hold of Vijay but could not trace Anil and Uday. An alert was made to the fire and emergency services whose personnel rushed to the spot. The entire episode was over in just seconds, said an eyewitness.
Anil, a resident of Banashankari, was married with two children while Uday lived in Kadrinahalli and was unmarried.
According to police sources, the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB) had allowed the crew to shoot near the reservoir but had given no permission to fly a chopper or jump into the reservoir.
Ramanagara SP Chandragupta said a case of negligence has been registered against the film producer and director and the investigations have begun.
Videos of the scene went viral as some news channels were covering the shoot after they were invited by the film's director Nagashekhar and producer Sundar Gowdru. The action scene was being choreographed by Ravi Verma.
'Don't know to swim, it's up to God'
In their final interview to a private news channel before boarding the chopper, Anil and Uday had admitted that they didn't know to swim. Anil said," I am not that good at swimming but can save myself. I have an experience of swimming in wells where we can reach the edge in two of three strokes.
This is the first time that I am attempting a jump into the water from a height. We have not prepared for this scene. We will jump and the rest is up to God." Uday added, "The three of us will just jump. That’s all I know." He said he was taking a risk for the sake of the movie.