Jun 17, 2025 10:41 AM IST Back-to-back accidents, together with a ship carrying 30 members capsizing on Kantara Chapter 1 set, have raised questions on security measures on Indian movie units On Sunday, throughout the shoot of Kantara Chapter 1, a ship carrying 30 crew members, capsized within the Mani reservoir on the Masti Katte space of Karnataka’s Shivamogga district. On June 13, helium balloons caught hearth on the units of Harshvardhan Rane and Sonam Bajwa’s upcoming movie. A day earlier than that, a water tank burst and flooded the units of Nikhil Siddhartha starrer The Indian House, produced by Ram Charan’s manufacturing home. These incidents have raised questions on security measures on Indian movie units. Still from units flooded and hearth erupting behind Harshvardhan Rane. When we reached out to Suresh Shyamlal Gupta, President, All Indian Cine Workers Association, to discuss the incidents, he highlighted the problems confronted by the solid and crew engaged on units together with the dearth of security 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 inflicting main flooding, crew members injured Suresh additional reveals that since 2021, “producers, production houses, and channels have stopped union members from coming to film sets” allegedly to stop them from elevating these security considerations. “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 digicam attendant, additional sheds gentle on the challenges confronted throughout movie productions, starting from poor meals high quality to uncared for electrical tools. He additionally factors out the extreme well being points crew members endure attributable to unhygienic situations and tense working situations. 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 declare they do their finest to keep away from any mishap on the units. 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.”
