kumarvardan’s body double, who was playin

Pests, control!

Anuj Saxena's body double, who was playing his corpse, couldn't lie still as he was tickled by the insects in the flowers on him

Ranjib Mazumder

The cast and crew of Solhah Singaarr had a good laugh a few days back when they were supposed to be shooting a serious scene. As Anuj Saxena who plays Kumar Vardhan Bharadwaj in the show dies, a body double was hired to enact the death scene.

Recalling the incident, Akangsha Rawat aka Meerra said, "It was a death scene and a body double was hired and his body was kept in the centre of the hall. There were sweet smelling flowers all over in the hall and there were many bees and house flies hovering around the flowers. As there were many flowers on the 'dead body' too, those insects were all over the body doubles' body and he was getting really irritated."

Akangsha added, "I am playing Kumar Vardhan Bharadwaj's daughter and I was supposed to be close to him and cry loudly while looking at his face. As I went closer to him, I noticed that he was being tickled by the insects. While we all started crying along with the rudaali present in the hall, the 'dead body' started moving as the body double could not lie still. All the actors present over there started laughing. Next time, he was told not to move but he was trying to shoo away the insects away by twisting his face or eyebrows. We all were supposed to cry but we again burst out laughing. The body double was embarrassed and we had to take several shots to get the scene right."

Mrinal Kulkarni who plays Alaknanda in the show said, "As I play Kumar Vardhan Bharadwaj's wife, I was supposed to break my bangles. But, looking at his face twitching every now and then, we could not stop laughing. The room was full of bees and house flies and we were quite annoyed. The poor body double had a difficult time as he could not even move!"

The cast and crew were very sympathetic towards the man who was playing Anuj's dead body. "He was lying on that bamboo bed for three to four hours at a stretch. As shooting that scene took several hours, we actors were taking breaks but he was not allowed to move because would spoil the continuity of the scene. We all felt sorry for him," Akangsha added.