Ajay Devgn on Amitabh Bachchan's injury: We take all safety measures but there are risks

The quality of safety precautions on film sets has improved with time but there is always a risk, said Bollywood star Ajay Devgn on Monday as he reflected on megastar Amitabh Bachchan's recent injury during a movie shoot. On his personal blog, Bachchan on Sunday said his rib cartilage broke and he suffered a "muscle tear to the right" of his ribcage while filming an action sequence of Project K in Hyderabad.

The 80-year-old star, who is recovering at home in Mumbai, was advised to rest by doctors after undergoing a CT scan at a Hyderabad hospital. Devgn, who made his film debut with the 1991 action romance Phool Aur Kaante, said things are better today. "There are cables and safety precautions. There are ambulances and doctors on sets. There are paddings and lots of stuff. It's become relatively easier. Thank God, while we are ageing, things are getting easier also. It's like driving a car, you can have an accident anytime, but you try to be safe all the time. So it just happens sometimes but we try to take all the safety measures but there are risks," the actor-filmmaker told reporters at the trailer launch of his upcoming action film Bholaa.

Also starring Tabu, Bholaa will hit the screens on March 30. Recalling working with Bachchan on Major Saab, Devgn said the veteran star also got injured on the set of their 1998 action movie while filming a jumping stunt from about 30 feet."He insisted he would jump from some 30 feet, it was three floors high. I told him 'Let's not do this shot'. It was a night sequence, I said 'we can work it out with duplicates'. We both were supposed to jump. He insisted we do it. We had an injury then as well, so it's that enthusiasm," he said.

The actor, who also directed Bachchan in his 2022 directorial Runway 34, praised Bachchan for doing some unimaginable shots on film sets. "Mr Bachchan, from where he started and then later when he (re)started, at that point of time he used to do action. There were no mattresses, there were no safety measures, there were no cables, we injure every part of our body. Mr Bachchan has done shots that you can't even imagine," he said.

Tabu, who has worked with Bachchan in Cheeni Kum (2007), said there is "always one per cent chance" of getting injured. The actor said it is "scary" to do action sequences but after doing stunts in Bholaa her fear has reduced considerably. "I want to thank my entire action team for keeping me and everybody else safe. This is exactly what I wanted to talk about, that it is not easy to execute an action film. It is not easy to physically achieve so much and actually do it there in real time. You need a set of really dedicated people who care about people's lives, who will protect you and make you do the right things, and not make you do what you should not be doing. I had a fantastic team," she added.

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