Insurers provide covers, they take care of risks ~ not all risks are insurable.Ideally, some basic criteria of risks being definite, financially measurable, not too unique posing challenges in rating and charging appropriate premium, not being random in nature and the like are to be met, to make it an ‘insurable risk’ – a risk that conforming to the specifications of the Insurers, the definitions of which may remain complex, dynamic and different based on the size and understanding of an Insurer. A few years back – in the dead of night, an ambulance arrived at Devaki hospital – a man with cuts and bleeding injuries all over the body was admitted – was informed that he was injured badly while performing a stunt sequence.Those around him were discussing of whether or not to inform his young wife of the accident and .. .. how to arrange money for the immediate treatment ! – sad tale of a junior artiste, part of the ‘dream industry’ where heroes utter punch dialog and rake in crores (yet do not pay taxes !) – that even after earning so many crores, they too turn pauper is not the subject matter of this post. The Tamil cinema industry woke up to the tragic news of three people, on the sets of the Kamal Haasan-starrer Indian 2, being crushed to death after a crane fell on them. Assistant director Krishna, art assistant Chandran and production assistant Madhu were killed in the mishap that occurred at 10 pm on Wednesday. Nine others, who were injured while working on the Shankar directorial, were rushed to a private hospital in Poonamallee.While the news came as a shock to many, important questions have been raised on the responsibility of production houses — in this case, Lyca Productions — towards their employees; the responsibility of the film Directors and that of the Heroes for whom great risks are taken.Also there are many unanswered Qs about the way in which Kollywood deals with accidents and mishaps that take place on film sets.
According to media
reports, the men were preparing to set
up the place for shooting a fight scene of director Shankar's 'Indian 2'
starring actor Kamal Hasaan.A day
later, Kamal reportedly visited the Kilpauk Hospital mortuary to meet the
family members of the deceased after which he told media, "I have come
here because they are family to me. I do not feel this accident has happened on
the production of Lyca but I feel it has happened to someone in my
family," – he further added - "It is
shameful that our cinema industry is still not able to provide proper working conditions
for its technicians. We boast about big-budget films but I think the entire
cinema fraternity should work towards providing safe working conditions for the
technicians which will be the only treatment to this incident." Easy words but it is for those who are in the
industry and who have made money to ponder whether at any point the lives and
living of such insignificant people who too work in the same industry has ever
been respected and cared for !.
This is not to
blame the hero, director or the production house – but lessons are hardly
learnt.Mishaps, injuries and loss of
life are not new to the industry.Way
back in 1914, while filing on location in Canon city, Colorado, for the movie
‘Across the Border’, cast member Grace McHugh was filming a scene where her
character was crossing the Arkansas River in a boat. When the boat capsized,
camera operator Owen Carter immediately jumped into the river to save her. He
dragged her onto a sandbar that was reported to be quicksand. The rest of the film
crew watched helplessly as they were sucked into the sandbar and drowned.
There have been
many many instances -in 1982, Vic
Morrow and two child actors, Renee Shinn Chen and Myca Dinh Le, were killed in
an accident involving a helicopter during filming on the California set of
Twilight Zone: The Movie. In 2016,in a helicopter stunt for the Kannada film
Masthigudi went horribly wrong. Duniya Vijay, Uday and Anil jumped into the
Thippagondanahalli Reservoir, 35km west of Bengaluru, from a helicopter. Vijay
came out, but the other two were drowned and lost their lives.In 1994 on the
sets of ‘The Crow’ directed by Alex Proyas, Brandon Lee was accidentally wounded on set during filming
by defective blank ammunition and later died in the hospital during surgery. In 2017, Chi Po-lin along with his assistant
Chen Kuan-chi and pilot Chang Chi-kuang died in a helicopter crash in a
mountainous area in Hualien County's Fengbin Township. The group was shooting
footage for the sequel to Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above, which was scheduled
for release in 2019.
Human lives are
precious and there cannot be no replacement – but there can at least be just
compensation – for which Insurance is available, not all producers arrange for
such insurances though.Movies are
insured – though not all Insurers have a Policy nor consider this insurable.
The special specific policy has differential sections of coverage where limits
of indemnity are taken by the proposer.There is insurance for Cast (indemnity for death / criticial illness and
the like); Props, Sets, wardrobes, equipments, extra expenses, public liability
and the like.There could be material
damage to props, sets, wardrobes and equipments and there could be
consequential losses caused by such cancellations / delays and more.There can be cover for film negative !, extra
expenses, public liability and .. .. personal accident, which again is taken only
for key people and not for all – those doing small roles are often
neglected.
There are lessons
to be learnt and such accidents should make people realize the need for
protecting, planning properly and ensuring that financial compensation is made
available.Sad – for entertaining people
and in trying to produce thrilling scenes, some get injured and some lose their
lives too.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
24.2.2020.
