Stunt community mourns S M Raju’s tragic death on Tamil movie set

Stunt artists, including veterans Sham Kaushal, Ram Shetty and Aejaz Gulab and others on Monday mourned the death of popular stuntman S M Raju during the shooting of an action scene for director Pa Ranjith’s film ‘Vettuvam’.

The 52-year-old stuntman, whose real name was Mohan Raj, was driving an SUV in a high-octane stunt scene for the film in Nagapattinam on July 13 when he suddenly collapsed. His colleagues pulled him out of the vehicle and rushed him to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. Video of the incident, which has gone viral on social media, shows those on the sets frantically running to his rescue. He is seen being extracted from the car.

According to stunt directors and artists, car stunts in movies are inherently more dangerous and unpredictable than any other action sequence though security precautions are taken before shooting such sequences.

Veteran stunt director Sham Kaushal, who has worked on “Dunki”, “Gadar 2”, “Ponniyin Selvan”, “Laxmii”, “Sanju”, “Padmaavat”, “Bajirao Mastani”, “Krrish 3”, “Gangs of Wasseypur” and others, said Raju’s death is unfortunate.

“I read about it and I’m saddened to hear about his unfortunate demise. I haven’t worked with him, but stunt people are like a close-knit fraternity,” he said. “When you do a stunt with a car, it’s a combination of a human and a machine. In that case, if there’s a misjudgment, then it can be dangerous. The nature of stunts is that they’re risky,” he added.

Gulab, who is the general secretary of Movie Stunt Artists Association, said he saw the video on the internet and it is unfortunate that Raj lost his life.

“A car or motorcycle-related stunt is often risky. Whenever a stuntman performs, the action director ensures that an experienced stuntman performs such risky scenes. SM Raju was known for performing such stunts. Unfortunately, this incident has happened,” Gulab, who has worked in movies such as “Baazi”, “Josh”, “Khiladi 420” and upcoming films “Dhurdandar” and “Battle of Galwan”, said.

The stunt artists association has about 600 members and was formed in 1959.

Stuntman Shankar, who sustained severe injuries while performing a car stunt on “Chennai Express”, said he is saddened by Raju’s death. “I know that Raju performed car stunts like me. We worked together on two South Indian movies about 20 years ago. I saw the video, and he is like my brother, and I feel very sad that this incident happened,” Shankar said.

The stuntman, who continues to perform stunts even today, received severe burn injuries when the car he was sitting in caught fire during a stunt shoot.

“It’s been 13 years since I suffered injuries. The inspection is conducted on the car, about its speed and its working condition. The car stunts are the most dangerous. After the ‘Chennai Express’ incident, I continue doing car stunts like I did in ‘Total Dhamaal’ and for a music video of Himesh Reshammiya,” he said.

Ram Shetty, a former stuntman and stunt director, who has worked in the industry for over 50 years and on movies, including “Yaadon Ki Baarat”, “Dharmatma”, “Vaastav”, “Sadak”, Tezaab”, and “Laadla”, said his heart goes out to the stuntman’s family.

Some people are specialists in car and motorcycle stunts. They are very risky to perform,” he said.

Stunt artist Parvez Shaikh, said Raju had done some of the biggest stunts in his career and his death is unfortunate.

Arvind Gupta, who has performed stunts on films like “Maalik” and “Adipurush”, said stuntmen join this risky job for money.