A crane holding heavy lighting equipment snapped Wednesday while the crew of ‘Indian 2’ was shooting a major fight sequence.
In the wake of an accident on the sets of Kamal Haasan’s ‘Indian 2’, the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) has decided to impose guidelines to work with production houses henceforth. In a unanimous decision, the body said it would co-operate only if safety measures were put in place for workers and insurance provided.
FEFSI president R K Selvamani said, «We have unanimously decided that our union will co-operate with studios only if they agree to certain guidelines. Earlier, these were requests, now they are our demands.
«Any equipment which is not in industry practices will be used only after our approval. The operator and the crew will need to understand each other before shooting sequences. There should be safety measures and insurance cover for workers in the studio. Every studio should have an ambulance and a first-aid centre,» the veteran filmmaker said, adding that filmmakers need to ensure high levels of safety if they want their product to be at par with global cinema.
A crane holding heavy lighting equipment snapped Wednesday while the crew of ‘Indian 2’ was shooting a fight sequence. Three crew members including assistant director Krishna, art assistant Chandran and production assistant Madhusudhan Rao were crushed to death while ten other technicians were injured. Director Shankar and actors Kamal Haasan and Kajal Agarwal were also at the spot, but escaped unhurt.
Based on a complaint from assistant director Bharath Kumar, the Chennai Police lodged an FIR against crane operator Rajan under Section 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery) and 304 A (death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Rajan, who was absconding since the accident, was arrested Friday, hours before the case was transferred to the crime branch.
Selvamani said the accident during the shooting of ‘Indian 2’ wasn’t the first at Chennai’s EVP Film City. Recently, he said, technicians were injured on the sets of Rajinikanth’s Kaala and Vijay’s Bigil.
«Studios just don’t care these days. They don’t have any empathy towards workers. On Wednesday, the studio didn’t have an ambulance to carry the victims to hospital. The crew was forced to carry them in their private vehicles,» he claimed.
[Janardhan Koushik/Yahoo India/The Indian Express – original article]
[Telegraph India – article]
[Pictures – Yahoo India]
