A leap of Faith turning to accolade: A story of one of the best stunt artist in Bollywood

A film set in the year 2010, a period where safety to stunts were somewhat okayish. A cinematic scene picturized in Etherapalli Waterfall, as beautiful may the scenario may fit in ones head, it was fatal risky for a stuntwoman if act is not delivered in precision. A height so great, that it took almost 2 days to get required equipment to be set in position for the shot. A moist climate with nothing but gushing waterfall around and backed with safety of mere cables are enough to pump your heartbeat and make you think before you leap. The  concern of safety was unquestionable, but to calm a racing heart was altogether a different task, especially when you are stuntwoman. Being an expert in breathing exercises and years of years of practices helped into taking a leap of faith

Now, the question arises how to fall from a mammoth height of 350 feet with a gushing waterfall so loud that loud speaker of action director couldn’t be heard and of air making your balance tougher than ever, not getting any serious injuries. Precaution, precision being the constant, calming your nerves and taking deep breath to ensure holds the key for scenario. The scene depicted actress falling from a great height with a dire intention to end her life and put herself away from the misery, but in real life a stunt woman had to fall from a great height and get a perfect shot and not probably dying in the process. The answer was somewhere in the bushes, as one stumble from one bush to another the impact softens and chances of being injured gets reduced. As an audience and a stuntwoman, I recall this scene the irony of reel and real life flashes right into memory. Especially, when the scene executed to perfection in 13 takes and couple of times even the cable snapped.

But once the stunt was executed to perfection, the applause on the set were louder than waterfall. Later, that big leap turned into milestone a stunt artist can dream of achieving in the bollywood industry. Later, in the year 2011, got nominated for Best Action in a Foreign Language Film, and more importantly, a story of a stuntwoman of having nerves of steel in while performing breath-taking stunt became a source of inspiration for many.

If you are still awestruck with my experience and hungry for more action pack experience, checkout how a stuntwoman had “Bang Bang” experience on the sets of Hollywood remake movie with Fox star studio, for which I did earned World Stunt Taurus Nomination.

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