Are death defying unrealistic stunts needed?

I have had this discussion many times on the forum and now Hrithik's surgery has prompted me to make this poll. Are death defying unrealistic stunts really needed in movies? This time Hrithik was injured but many times unknown stuntmen get injured. Actors think they are being brave and public is thrilled on watching the stunts. But cant we restrict ourselves to enjoying plausible stunts?

Bollywood is not safe for daredevilry acts!

Bang Bang's stunt director Conrad had opted out when Hrithik attempted the dive that led to the formation of the clot. TOI investigates how safe is Bollywood for daredevilry

On Sunday, Hrithik Roshan had to undergo an emergency brain surgery at Khar's Hinduja Healthcare Surgical after a blood clot was detected between his brain and the left side of his skull. While the operation was successful, Hrithik has been advised complete bed rest for nearly a month, as a result of which, the next schedule of his forthcoming film Bang Bang, directed by Siddharth Anand, has been postponed.

However, Hrithik may well consider himself lucky, as things could have been a lot worse after he dived into water from a height of 30 feet back in May during the Bangkok schedule of Bang Bang.

We've learnt that Hollywood stunt director, Conrad E Palmisano of Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour fame, had been brought on board as action director for Bang Bang. However, he called it quits even before the film went on floors, citing haphazard schedules. "I am not doing Bang Bang. The schedules had gone awry, and I had other things to do in life," he said.

Conrad revealed that while water's killer dive was to be originally shot in Croatia under his supervision, thanks to the freezing cold there, the location was shifted to Thailand's warmer climes. Rumour has it that after he walked out, the shot was filmed under Siddharth's direction with the help of a local action coordination group.

Siddharth remained unavailable for comment but the spokesperson for Bang Bang sent us a text saying: "Stringent measures were taken and all precautions were in place at the time of the stunt. We at Fox Studios ensure that proper care is taken for any and every stunt sequence involving talent. International water sports specialist Peter Hendra and Thai action director Nung (Seelum Pradit) were present to guide Hrithik."

Asked if we could get in touch with Peter and Nung, the spokesperson simply said, "Both of them are travelling." While one cannot really say whether the film industry takes all necessary precautions while filming dangerous stunts, we have learnt that all film sets do not have doctors and ambulances present.

Also, unlike abroad, where insurance cover spells out that certain stunts cannot be undertaken by lead actors, there is no such rule in India. A source revealed: "Here, actors are way too confident about their fitness levels, and think they can pull off any feat."

When contacted, action director for Krrish, Shyam Kaushal, was rather non-committal. "We make use of a harness and pads to ensure that actors are not hurt. But these days, our actors want to do most of the stunts themselves. Think of it, they are not wrong as filmmaking has changed and actors today are very fit. I must add however that our actors are not as well insured as Hollywood actors. With the passage of time, we should get that right," he said.

However, Sanjay Gupta said candidly: "We don't follow adequate safety precautions here. We had an ambulance and a doctor constantly on the sets of Shootout At Wadala, but that's about it. Bollywood has a long way to go before it can call itself safe."

Wounded Heroes...
Shah Rukh Khan injured his shoulder while shooting for Dulha Mil Gaya and had to be in a sling for a couple of months thereafter. In his long film career, the actor has sustained many injuries including three broken ribs, a twisted ankle and a broken right toe among others.

Amitabh Bachchan grievously injured himself in the intestines while shooting a fight scene for Coolie. It almost cost the superstar his life and it was several months before he could resume shooting.

Akshay Kumar too has sustained several injuries, the latest being while shooting for Rowdy Rathore when he suffered a shoulder injury during the filming of the pre-climax scene.

John Abraham had a near death experience in Shootout at Wadala. Anil Kapoor accidentally shot a blank bullet at John from a distance of 1.5m while the original distance was supposed to be 15 feet. The bullet grazed the right side of John's neck.

That why body double are there for

^^^Stunt doubles bhi insaan hote hain. Instead of HR it could have been a stunt double undergoing an operation. My question would remain the same.

Originally posted by: MrsMalhotra

^^^Stunt doubles bhi insaan hote hain. Instead of HR it could have been a stunt double undergoing an operation. My question would remain the same.

Stunts are always a risk. But with an experienced stunt director and a good team, things rarely go wrong. Hollywood make so many action movies but their action scenes are well choreographed with so much protection at present

Originally posted by: Christina_Yang

@bold: True!! At least Hrithik can afford world class hospital care ; but what abt poor body doubles!! there have been umpteen number of cases in the past when body doubles n stuntmen have died while filming an action sequence!!families have been left behind with no one to take care of them! There is a Discovery program on this and it has interviews wiht stunt masters like Amin etc ...u shud watch that documentary to know how bad it is!!

The fact is..if we cant provide the same safety levels as is done in HW..we should not aspire or push people to perform under such bad conditions!!

but BW is dictated by market and if market demands ki hero ek kick maare and 100 log 100 directions mein udd kar jaaye...hero 100 ft jump maare n what not,...they will film it either with the hero himself or the body double!! its bad either way!!

personally for me..such action sequences dont matter much...but i m sure there is a huge audience for it n thats y it sells!!

I find them okay as long as the stunt men are experienced enough to handle them.