The whole Sandalwood industry was stunned when two young Kannada actors met watery grave during the shooting of “Maastigudi” last week. Actors Anil Raghav and Uday drowned in the Thippagondanahalli Reservoir, 35 km. west of Bengaluru while performing a stunt in the climax scene. Raghav and Uday along with lead actor Duniya Vijay jumped into the reservoir from a helicopter and Vijay managed to reach the shore.
The shooting team launched a rescue mission using a boat, but couldn’t find the actors. Later, expert divers were deployed to find the actors and their dead bodies were found after two days in a very bad condition. Adequate safety measures were not taken before starting the stunt sequences. Vijay, who is playing the lead role, was only provided with a harness.
The death shocked Sandalwood. All the celebrities condemned the incident. Director Nagashekar and stunt master Ravi Varma fled from the spot and were absconding. They surrendered last Sunday.
Police also arrested the film’s producer Sundar Gowda. The two actors lost their life due to stupidity and negligence of the film team. Now who is to be blamed for this situation? Is it the stunt master, director, producer or actor Duniya Vijay?
The main person who is responsible for this mishap is Ravi Varma. The stunt master who is popular all over India was reckless. It was one of the riskiest stunts of his career. There were no water boats nearby. Expert swimmers must have already been there in the lake. The duo who died, did not know swimming. How could Ravi Varma allow them to swim? Just to expose their six packs, they were not even given life jackets. If they were given life jackets, they would have been alive today.
Nagashekar, the film’s director is also equally responsible for this mishap. A director is called the captain of the ship. He is supposed to look into everything. An actor blindly follows whatever the director says. It is such a disheartening thing that a director who has directed three films did not take proper care and played with the life of the artists.
After Sundar Gowda was arrested, some of the film fraternity members protested against it. They felt that a film producer’s job is just look after finance and nothing else. But is a producer not responsible to look after his crew? He was present on the spot and knew that it was risky. He could have stopped the team. He has spent crores of money on film. Could he not spend a few thousands on the life jackets?
Duniya Vijay is an actor. So blaming him directly for the mishap is wrong. However, he being a stunt man before must have known the risk which they were undertaking. Uday and Anil were close to Duniya Vijay and had grown in the industry due to him. Just before the incident occurred, both had spoken to media and said that they are doing this stunt for their mentor Duniya Vijay.
The media present on the sets could have also stopped this mishap. Blaming media on the set, who had come to cover the climax shooting, is immature. However, all the journalists present there knew about the riskiness of the stunt. If someone had protested against this, may be the film team could have made changes.
Lastly the duo Anil and Uday could have saved themselves. They did not know swimming, but still decided to enter the lake. Swimming in a swimming pool is difficult for a non-swimmer and asking them to swim in lake was foolishness. The actors must have not agreed at all. They may have thought that their work may get affected in future, if they do not agree now. But what is the use of work, when they will not be alive.
This is a lesson to everybody in the industry. Actors and stuntmen should not get involved in something which they are not sure. Proper safety measures should be taken by the film team.
Uday and Anil had a great future. We cannot get them back. But we must make sure that something like this never repeats again. This incident was a black mark on Sandalwood. When technology has become so advanced, taking risks at such rate is stupidity.
A case has been registered against the team. We hope the court gives justice to Anil and Uday. Along with punishment for guilty, the family of Anil and Uday should be looked after. The state government has already announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh each. The film fraternity is also expected to pool in some funds. The accused, in jail should also be made to pay a big amount to the family. But by paying money, they should not be given lesser punishment. They should be punished for their stupidity as it cost two lives.
