BENGALURU:
Two stunt actors were feared drowned in a lake while a popular film star was rescued after a helicopter stunt for a Kannada film went horribly wrong on Monday in Ramanagara district near Bengaluru. One body was fished out on Tuesday.
The horrific incident which was caught on camera showed stunt actors Anil and Uday jumping off a helicopter into the Tippagondanahalli lake from a height of about 50 feet. Popular Kannada actor Duniya Vijay jump
ed after them and was rescued by a fisherman later while trying to swim towards the shore.
Anil and Uday were seen splashing in the water trying to swim, before they went missing. Both said in an interview before the action sequence that they don’t know swimming. The stunt sequence was part of the climax of the Kannada movie “Maastigudi”.
The video also showed people on the shore shouting at a rescue boat to rush towards the drowning stuntmen, but it could not move due to a technical fault. It is also alleged that there were no expert divers on the spot.
The place was a dangerous spot for film shoots as there is about 30-40 ft of silt below 15-20 feet of water.
There are also abandoned fishing nets at the spot.
Officials said lack of precautionary measures and faulty rescue boats were the main reasons for the mishap.
The rescue operations are still going on. Before performing the stunt, Uday had said he was “scared” of the stunt and was not good at swimming.
“I’m very scared first of all. I have not done (such stunt) so far, nor have I seen anyone performing such stunt so far, so I’m scared. Whatever safety is done there is always a fear within oneself, despite that the situation is that I have to perform it.
He also said he was not good in swimming. “I’m not that good in swimming, I can fall (into water) and come out, but I have never fallen into water from such a height, so there is some sort of fear within me.”
Stating that precautionary measures had been taken by the team, he said “preparation is what they have done, they have said that once we fall they will come (in boat), we are dependent on it, if there is anything above it, there is God.”
