WANTED: SAFETY DIRECTORS ON SETS

A spate of accidents during shoots has thrown up the need for safety experts in Bollywood

What do actors Akshay Kumar, Randeep Hooda, Ranveer Singh and Katrina Kaif have in common? Well, all of them were hurt while performing stunts in their recent films. The reason, say experts, is that Bollywood does not follow international safety standards while shooting stunt scenes.

“There are a lot of actors who do stunts on their own in Hollywood as well. The difference between them and us is that we do not have a safety directors on sets. He is the person who cross-checks every detail and gives his nod. A stunt is filmed only after that,” says action director Allan Amin.

Filmmaker Sabbir Khan agrees and says that if someone starts the trend of having a security officer on set, eventually everyone will start taking this measure.

“Anything to do with people’s safety is paramount. Getting a safety director is a great idea,” says Sabbir, who also worked with Hollywood action star Sylvester Stallone in his movie Kambakkht Ishq (2009).

Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta, who has directed several action flicks, says, that budget is a constraint. “There is no value for life on sets. I don’t see safety precautions being taken even in 10% of the movie sets because producers are always busy saving money. I hope producers take this matter seriously,” says Sanjay.

However, actor Rana Daggubati, who has been seen in the action flick Baby, feels that just getting a safety director isn’t the solution. “Actors need to take safety precautions. Most actors don’t like wearing basic safety gear, like a knee guard during stunt scenes, which they should. Accidents don’t happen only during big and complicated stunts, they can happen anytime,” he says.

We do not have a safety director on sets... these are people who check every detail before a stunt is filmed Allan Amin, action director Getting a safety director is a great idea and should be done ... if one unit starts, others will follow suit Sabbir Khan, filmmaker

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