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Heroes turn masters of stunt

Isha Mukoo | February 1, 2012 | 0 Comments

With competition and talent increasing in the Hindi film industry, actors have taken to performing their own stunts. Postnoon explores this trend

You have seen the hero playing the role of a chocolate lover boy, then the gentleman, followed by the macho man — now he has taken to playing the stuntman. It’s good for the women we say, for they will be more of the handsome hunks. Bollywood actors have now become men of action, literally.

We have the recent example of the Ajay Devgan-starrer Tezz, which is slated to release in April and has the action boy doing stunts himself. Like him there are other actors performing stunts in their movies themselves rather than use the stunt doubles. But easier said than done, the actors have had to tolerate bruised backs and broken bones in return for a good shot.

For instance it was rumoured that Devgn suffered some injuries while performing a stunt in his upcoming movie Tezz but that does not stop any of them from getting on to the real side of action. Dhoom director, Sanjay Gadhvi says when compared, it is Bollywood, which is way ahead of Hollywood in terms of actors performing their own stunts.

“It is a mixed package of advanced equipment that allows them the security to freely do so. Unlike Hollywood where there is more of chroma effects used and then the sequence is set into the scene, our Bollywood actors are doing the stunts right on the scene,” he says and goes onto add, “ There is also a little bit of competition that prevails in the industry with others doing stunts.

The action sequences on the train in Dhoom pictured on Hrithik and Abhishek were done by the actors themselves. We made sure the actors had all the safety equipment and harness in place. There are so many actors who have the guts to do actions sequences like Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, John Abraham or the new face Vidyut in Force. Dhoom also played a part in paving the way and triggering the trend of action stunts and movies.”

All this daredevilry by the actors has not gone unnoticed by the fans as they seem to be loving it. But the adulation comes at a cost. To list out a few, Hrithik Roshan suffered injury on his hands and his back while doing some stunts.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh feels it is the real factor that has triggered the trend. “Security measures have increased and the equipment used is very advanced and can take care of the deadliest of stunts by the actors. When they look at movies like MI 4, they know that stunts like that are not beyond their reach and they are all ready to perform them. Also, one cannot forget the competitiveness that is there in the industry, and, people also want to see the real stuff,” he explains.

Another example is Abhishek Bachchan, who was hurt while shooting for the movie Bol Bachchan. He fractured his finger and had to take it easy for a while. The list does not end here. There is Akshay Kumar, the stunt-master in Bollywood who makes sure that he does his stunts himself, and often ends up hurting himself in the process as well.

His activities did take a toll on him and his back problems aggravated, which then required him to go to Germany for the Hydro treatment but that has not slowed him down in one bit. While some feel it is the security measures and also the competitive level that has triggered this trend, actor Sonu Sood feels it’s the high that one gets when performing the stunts.

“It is a adrenaline boost that you get when you perform such stunts. Also, one does not need to cheat with the camera angles, now that we have professional action directors who keep our safety in mind,” he says. While the list of actors fixated with stunts seems to be only getting bigger, we hope and pray that these daredevils take good care of
themselves.

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