Emraan’s narrow escape

By Hiren Kotwani, Hindustan Times

Looks like Emraan Hashmi is keen to shed his ‘serial kisser’ image and break into the action hero mould. The actor, who will be seen doing plenty of action in the forthcoming Milan Luthria film, Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, escaped a fatal accident while shooting for Mohit Suri’s Crook in Melbourne, Australia on Wednesday evening.

The scene required Hashmi to drive down a freeway, following a rig vehicle, which had a camera mounted on a crane arm. Suddenly, the camera got detached from the crane and fell off. And the actor, who was barely 10 feet behind the rig vehicle, driving at nearly 100 kmph couldn’t afford to swerve or brake instantly.

Damage control

So Hashmi just drove over the camera, which naturally broke into pieces. And as a result of the impact, his car went a couple of feet off the road, but not off the freeway. Confirming the news, Hashmi said, “I was fortunate that my car didn’t veer off the freeway. I shudder to think of what would have happened in that case. But yes, at that moment, my heart did miss many a beat.”

Thanking his lucky stars for saving him from the fatality of the accident, the actor added, “Hats off to all those stuntmen and actors who risk their lives while performing dangerous action sequences. Of course, we all take adequate security measures before and during the rehearsals and double check them before shooting the scene, but the risk of a mishap is always there.”

However, the cast and crew were too frazzled to continue shooting that evening and resumed only the following morning with another camera.