Vicky Kaushal’s accident once again brings into focus the issue of safety for actors while shooting action scenes.
Tiger Shroff, who performs heart-in-the-mouth stunts, says, “First of all, its very unfortunate that Vicky got injured. But knowing him, he’s a tough guy and the son of an even tougher guy Shamji (action director Sham Kaushal). So, I know he will bounce back ASAP and kill it again!”
Tiger feels accidents such as this, during action scenes cannot be avoided. “Accidents like that are unpredictable. No matter how much precaution is taken, something can go wrong. So the choice is between doing them (the stunts) and not doing them. As far as I am concerned, there’s really no choice. The audience today is too smart to be taken in by a body double. They can easily make out when one is faking it,” adds Tiger who has been awarded honorary fifth-degree black belt in Taekwondo.
Tiger is fatalistic about the stunts. “The smallest or biggest things can happen in your daily life which can cause big damage, so there’s nobody to blame except destiny. When a stunt has to go wrong, it will go wrong. The least we can do is make sure that the environment in which we perform stunts is as safe as possible so that the artist performing is mentally at ease.”
The martial artist doesn’t think much before doing stunts. “I don’t know if this makes sense but I tend to shut all thoughts out. Because the moment I start thinking, even an ounce of fear can make something go wrong. Like I said, we must perform in as safe environments as possible with correct safety measures.”
Says producer Pahlaj Nihalani, “Zamana badal gaya hai. Nowadays leading men like to do all their stunts themselves. They know body doubles don’t work any more. After seeing the live action in Hollywood super-hero films and Mission Impossible, they can easily tell when a hero is faking it. So now, heroes have to do all the dangerous stunts themselves. I heard Tom Cruise broke his ankle while shooting for the last Mission Impossible. Now Vicky Kaushal has injured himself. Shooting will have to stop.”
