CHENNAI: Two minutes after I called him for dinner, I heard a loud noise and suddenly everything was dark, recalls Mahendran, brother of Madhusudhanan Rao, who died after a crane fell on him at EVP film city on Wednesday night at the 'Indian 2' shooting set.
Mahendran was also working in the same set for over a week now.
"I rushed to the crane to look for my brother, as it was too dark I could not see anybody's faces. I heard my brother's mobile phone ringing right next to my leg, as I bent down, I found him under the iron rod of the crane," the 24-year-old said, his eyes swelled up, sitting outside the Kilpauk hospital mortuary waiting for his brother's body.
"My brother Madhusudanan has been working in the industry for over eight years and now he is working as a production assistant. He even worked in the production team of 2.0 and the recently released Darbar movie.
Since the shoot is at night, we reached the spot around 6 pm. Some 850 people were at the site and 500 had gone for dinner," said Mahendran.
"At around 10 pm, I had called him for dinner. He said that he would give director S Shankar his juice and come. He was entering the tent to hand over the juice when the lights that the crane was holding fell right on him from a height of about 50 feet," he said.
There were around 30 to 40 people at the spot including director Shankar and actor Kamal Haasan who narrowly escaped, he recalls.
Three persons were killed and nine others suffered serious injuries after a crane allegedly fell on them in a shooting spot at EVP film city on Wednesday night.
According to police, the men were preparing to set up the place for shooting of director Shankar's 'Indian 2'.
Madhusudhanan, is survived by his mother, father, two sisters and a younger brother.
Speaking to Express, a relative of Ramachandran alias 'Vesti' Ramachandran seeking anonymity said, a native of Devakottai has been residing at K K Nagar. "He has been in the set production industry for over 30 years and has been the leader of the South Indian Cinema Production Union for over eight years."
"On Wednesday, he had left home at around 3 pm, as it was night shift and around 10.40 we received a call from the set about the mishap," added the relative.
The relative also said that there has been no safety for technicians at the workplace and this has been an issue for several years. "Compared to the other state film industry, our state still is far behind in providing a proper working condition for its technicians," he added.
Ramachandran is survived by his wife and a daughter who is studying in plus two.
The other deceased identified as Sai Krishnan, who worked as an assistant director, was the son in law of popular cartoonist and film critic Madhan.
Meanwhile, the Nazarathpet police station have registered a case against the crane operator, Rajan under sections 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery) and 304 A (death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code. The police have launched a hunt for Rajan, who fled the scene right after the incident.
Haasan tweeted his condolences: "Today's accident is the most horrific I have seen in my film career. I have lost three colleagues but my pain pales in comparison to the grief of those who have lost their loved ones. My deepest sympathies to them."
Many on social media claimed that director Shankar was injured, however, our sources confirmed that he was not injured.
He visited the mortuary at Kilpauk Medical College to meet the family members of the deceased.
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The injured have been identified as Manchang (37), Vasu (35), Ramzan (43), Arunprasath (24), Kumar (52), Kalaichithra, Gunabalan, Thirunavukkarasu (45) and Murugadoss (40).
Actor Hasaan has announced a crore to the families of the deceased.
The shooting site has been temporarily closed down by the police.
The much-hyped sequel of Shankar's 1996 hit film was officially launched a year ago but the shooting wasn't taking place in a brisk manner.
After much delay, the crew started work on the project this month.