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Hindustan Times

Kantara Chapter 1 boat mishap, The Indian House flooding spark safety concerns on film sets

On Sunday, during the shoot of Kantara Chapter 1, a boat carrying 30 crew members, capsized in the Mani reservoir at the Masti Katte area of Karnataka's Shivamogga district. On June 13, helium balloons caught fire on the sets of Harshvardhan Rane and Sonam Bajwa's upcoming film. A day before that, a water tank burst and flooded the sets of Nikhil Siddhartha starrer The Indian House, produced by Ram Charan's production house. These incidents have raised questions about safety measures on Indian film sets. When we reached out to Suresh Shyamlal Gupta, President, All Indian Cine Workers Association, to speak about the incidents, he highlighted the issues faced by the cast and crew working on sets including the lack of safety measures. He tells us, 'The state of affairs on sets of our films is very poor. A safety officer from BMC or Nagarpalika should be visiting the sets to conduct an inspection but it doesn't happen. Additionally, there's supposed to be at least 20 fire extinguishers on sets but if you go and see there are only 5 or six for the heck of it. There should be two exits on every film set in case of an emergency but right now sets have only one way to enter and exit.' Also Read | Water tank bursts on set of Ram Charan's The India House causing major flooding, crew members injured Suresh further reveals that since 2021, 'producers, production houses, and channels have stopped union members from coming to film sets' allegedly to prevent them from raising these safety concerns. 'There are wires all over the sets. Anything can happen on sets with so many open wires but there is no precaution taken. Are they waiting for accidents to happen?' he says, emphasising, 'Every artist deserves safety.' Jai Shankar Singh, a camera attendant, further sheds light on the challenges faced during film productions, ranging from poor food quality to neglected electrical equipment. He also points out the severe health issues crew members endure due to unhygienic conditions and stressful working conditions. Jai explains, 'Big production houses often don't hire action directors for big scenes being shot because it means paying more per day. Heavy equipment isn't properly maintained, cables aren't serviced. There is no time to eat food or take breaks and it affects our health. We often have to shoot for 16-18 hours straight. There are no provisions for rain, like umbrellas or raincoats. The food quality is poor, and people fall ill all the time. No one conducts inspections on film sets; everything is ram bharose. We get only 2-3 hours of sleep, and as a result, many of us are facing serious health issues.' However, filmmakers and producers claim they do their best to avoid any mishap on the sets. Abhishek Agarwal, co-producer of The Indian House, says, 'We always ensure the safety of people on sets. Even in this case, we had made preparations of this is scene and installed water tank days before the shoot. Sometimes there are few things which are not in our hands but we ensure that we always have an ambulance, a doctor on call ready.'