8 Bollywood Stuntmen And Women Who Deserve Equal Credit As The Actors

It’s interesting how we hero-worship Bollywood actors, taking them to be Gods in most cases and condone them of their misdeeds because they’re the stars! What is more interesting is that we know nothing about the men and women who actually pull off the breathtaking stunts, the credits of which are seamlessly given to the Godlike stars of Bollywood.

These daredevils of the film industry, are underpaid, never invited to award ceremonies and often find themselves in the most unprofessional, hazardous work environments. Let’s meet some of these super stuntmen and women of Bollywood.

1. Asif Mehta

It has been over seven years for Asif in the business of Bollywood stunts and he has body doubled for major actors like Emraan Hashmi and Manoj Bajpai. Asif’s technique to overcome threatening stunts, for instance, breaking through a glass door is to imagine that the door is made of Polystyrene (Thermocol) and not glass.

An aspiring graphic designer, Asif’s luck ran out while shooting as Manoj Bajpai’s body double in Shootout at Wadala. He was seriously injured on the job and later said he hoped the Association would consider arranging insurance for stuntmen.

 

2. Sanober Padiwala

You don’t get to see a lot of stunt-women in Bollywood. However, thanks to brave-hearts like Sanober, our tinsel town divas can pose as the pretty toughies on screen. Sanober has been around in the industry for quite some time now and she has already body doubled for actresses like Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra, Aishwarya Rai and Kareena Kapoor.

Working as a stunt-woman in Bollywood since age 12, Sanober has one golden rule – always work with a good action director. Once, upon expressing her apprehension regarding a particular stunt, the action director told her that it was a stuntman’s job to get hurt. Since then, Sanober made up her mind to work only with directors who cared about safety.

 

3. Munna

Munna could find some happiness in the fact that the persons he generally body doubles is most famous for a character that shares his name – Munna, Munna Bhai. The six-footer stuntman, Munna, is one of the veterans of the industry who is called for body doubling taller stars.

Although Munna never takes up an assignment where safety is not ensured, the calculative stuntman says he doesn’t really care about the stars taking away the credit. He just wants to make sure that the stars are safe and sound because the industry, including the bread and butter of a lot of workers, depends on the stars. However, even Munna was scared when he had to jump off the 14th floor and catch flag Sanjay Dutt in the movie Knockout. 

 

4. Riyaz Shaikh

Riyaz Shaikh has been in the business for about 25 years now and he’s still fit as a fiddle. His father’s been a stuntman too and Riyaz, who had started off stunting for actors like Govinda is now body doubling for industry biggies like Hrithik Roshan. Although he has years of experience, Riyaz still felt the jitters when he had to jump off the 32nd floor of a building while body doubling Hrithik Roshan.

However, the one thing that worries him the most, like most of his fellow stuntmen, is the lack of insurance plans covered for them in case things go wrong.

 

5. Haji Kasam

Haji Bhai, one of the finest stuntmen in the industry, lost his life on the job in 1991. He was the go-to guy whenever Bollywood needed out of the world car stunts. Flipping a car upside down in the middle of the air was a part of the day’s job for Haji Kasam. His car stunts in movies such as Tezaab, Inaam Dus Hazaar and Karishma were nothing short of what animated pulp fictions are made of.

It was during the shooting of the movie Hamla that Haji Bhai where he had to drive a car into the water and jump out of it. Unfortunately, he was trapped inside and could not come out. Haji died on camera, aged 40.

 

6. Habib Haji

Habib Haji, son of Haji Kasam, is a stuntman by his own rights. Although he had witnessed his father’s untimely death on the sets of a film shoot, Habib decided to get into the same profession as he grew up. It seems that he has carries forward the legacy of his late father’s flipping cars as he recalls one of the most dangerous stunts he had to pull off – flipping a car in the air for chase sequence for the movie Risk.

However, Habib declares that it is the thrill, more than the money that keeps him going. He also loves to collect the old cars from the sets.

 

7. Reshma

She was an integral part of a scene in the iconic movie, Sholay. However, she never really became the icon, she deserved to be herself. Remember the scene were Dhanno (Hema Malini) ran her horse cart that almost had a wheel coming off while escaping Gabbar to save her modesty? Well, it was Reshma riding the precariously broken cart at full speed and that’s not the only stunt she had pulled off in the industry.

Reshma, now a senior citizen, stepped into the business when she was only 14 and had body doubled actresses like Meena Kumari, Hema Malini, Saira Banu, Dimple Kapadia and many more.

 

8. MS Balram

This is one stuntman who likes his dues served hot on his table. MS Balram, the stuntman in Mani Ratnam’s Raavan, starring Abhishek Bachchan, made sure the world knew that it was Balram who had pulled off the death-defying stunts in the movie and not the actor.

The brilliantly shot scene where Abhishek Bachchan dives into a river from a high cliff was much appreciated right from the time it was shown as a part of the trailer. However, Balram wanted to set the record straight that it was not Abhishek but he who had taken the breathtaking dive into the raging river.

It was good to see a big name like Akshay Kumar address the stuntmen and women of Bollywood in his open letter recently. Hope they get the recognition they deserve.

Cover Image Source 1 , Source 2