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Stunts in 'Eklavya' kept actors on the edge
15th Feb 2007 21.50 IST
By Nikhil Kumar
The actors of Vidhu Vinod Chopra's movie Eklavya had to face grave dangers while shooting action scenes in the film.
Imagine the sexagenarian Amitabh Bachchan running in a herd of 400 camels. Or Jackie Shroff almost getting hit by a moving train. Or Boman Irani sitting just inches away from a real bullet's trajectory. All this and more the cast of 'Eklavya' had to brave.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra is a perfectionist. He does not entertain the thought of using duplicate actors. Even though he made an exception and gave Mr. Bachchan an option to use a duplicate in some risky scenes, the superstar decided to do his own stunts.
Big B's most risky scene in the movie showed him running amidst a herd of camels. While shooting for the scene, Mr. Bachchan actually got hit by a furious camel. The animal hit the actor on head with its hooves. Thankfully, the turban that Amitabh wore in the scene cushioned the blow and the superstar escaped injury with just a little dizziness in his head.
On another occasion, Jackie Shroff had a close shave from getting hit by a moving train. In the scene, Jackie was so close to the rails that the train passed just a few inches away from his face. The speed of the train was around 100kmph.
But the luckiest of the lot was Boman Irani, who plays a king in the film. A scene was supposed to show an assassination attempt on him as he sat in his car. A bullet was supposed to go past his ear and hit the back of the car.
Action director Tinu Verma decided to make the scene authentic and use a real bullet. However, when the bullet was shot, it missed the mark, hit a metal frame and ricocheted, missing Boman's ear by a whisker.
After the scene, Boman swore never to do anything like that again.
'Eklavya' is the story of a guard entrusted with responsibility of protecting a royal bloodline. The movie also stars Saif Ali Khan , Sanjay Dutt , Vidya Balan and Raima Sen .
The film hits the theatres on February 16.
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