A life on the line: South Indian stunt artists battle danger without a safety net
More than four decades later, the story repeats itself—this time in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu.
On July 13, 2025, S. Mohanraj, known in the industry as SM Raju, one of Tamil cinema's seasoned stunt masters, died performing a high-speed car stunt for director Pa Ranjith's upcoming film Vettuvam. The vehicle overturned during filming. He was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved.
These aren't isolated tragedies. Last year, a car chase gone wrong during the filming of Bromance left actors Arjun Ashokan and Sangeet Prathap injured, prompting a Motor Vehicles Department case for overspeeding. In 2016, two stuntmen drowned during the shoot of Masti Gudi, a Kannada film. The two—Uday Raghav and Anil Kumar—jumped from a helicopter into a reservoir without life jackets. They drowned. The film's lead actor, who wore a life jacket, survived.
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