The shocking death of two actors, Uday and Anil, who drowned during an action sequence of a Kannada movie, raises questions about the absence of safety measures on film sets. These two upcoming actors of the Kannada film industry were at the start of their careers and drowned during a shoot in Bengaluru.
The incident occurred in the Thippagondanahalli lake where the two actors along with the lead star Duniya Viji took a leap from a helicopter into a lake. For two of them, it was a leap of death. Only Viji was able to swim out.
In an interview earlier on Monday, Uday had openly said that he did not know how to swim well and was taking a risk for the film. And yet, no precautions seem to have been taken by the producers of the film to ensure the actors’ safety.
Today’s incident may remind readers of a similar incident in the Malayalam film industry. Actor Jayan (screen name of Krishnan Nair) was a cult sensation for his daredevilry and macho stunts during the 1970s. When he was at the peak of his career, he was accidentally killed on the sets of the film Kolilakkam in a stunt where he was supposed to board an air-borne helicopter. The helicopter lost balance and crashed, killing him.
Curiously, Jayan’s macho image became larger than life after his death. Later, it became a caricature, something that the numerous mimicry troupes and comedy groups made part of their popular acts. Jayan’s death was only one among such fatal mishaps in the film and television sphere. The popular TV serial, ‘The Sword of Tipu Sultan’, aired on Doordarshan in 1989, has the ignominious record of claiming the largest number of lives on set.
In the absence of fire safety measures, a major fire broke out on the sets of Tipu Sultan and burnt down Premier Studios, Mysore. A total of 62 persons who were extras and crew members met their demise in the blaze, as they were trapped inside the burning film studio. Director and star of the show Sanjay Khan suffered major burns and had to spend 13 months in hospital. He is said to have undergone 72 surgical procedures on the road to recovery.
There have been instances of accidental deaths in Hollywood too. The fate of Bruce Lee, whose untimely death at the pinnacle of his career still remains a mystery, followed his son Brandon Lee, who died aged 28 on the sets of the movie, ‘The Crow’. Brandon Lee died of a gunshot wound during the shooting of a scene in which he was accidentally shot.
Back in Bollywood, in a similar episode on the sets of ‘Shootout at Wadala’, Anil Kapoor accidentally shot John Abraham using a blank bullet from a close range. Abraham thankfully escaped with just a graze injury on his neck. Even while shooting blanks, there should be a distance of 15 feet between shooter and ‘victim’, but this shot was discharged less than four feet away from John Abraham.
More fabled is Amitabh Bachchan’s encounter with death, as he shot a stunt scene from ‘Coolie’ which grievously damaged his intestines. Treated for months in hospital, the shoot of the film was stalled until the actor was back on his feet.
In a lot of instances, actors have had to face near-death instances. At other times, it is stunt men and body doubles who’ve faced the risk, as safety has not been of particular priority on several film sets.
A video of the drowning of actors Uday and Anil clearly exposes the lack of safety measures. A boat can be seen at some distance from where the actors jump into the lake, and only when those on the boat realise the actors were drowning, is someone seen jumping in to rescue them, which as we know turned out to be in vain.
There seems to have been no safety planning for the shot at all, and two young and upcoming actors’ lives were extinguished in just a flash.