IN MOVIE-CRAZY India, where about 1,000 films are churned out every year, the stars are huge celebrities, their every move avidly watched by fans, whether they live in village huts or penthouse apartments. But the unsung heroes behind all the glamour of the film industry are the stuntmen.
On any given day in Mumbai, about 10 films are being shot. And anyone visiting the sets from another country would probably be horrified. Spectacular feats are performed with no accident insurance for the stuntmen, no safety rules, insufficient preparation, and none of the protective equipment that's standard in other countries.
Habib Haji, 35, routinely jumps from great heights, crashes cars through walls or rides motorbikes soaring through the air before crashing spectacularly - all for about US$25 a day. And there's never so much as an ambulance or doctor on set.
Haji's father, Haji Bhai, was a famous Bollywood stuntman. On the day he was performing what was to be his last stunt before retiring in 1991, the car he was driving tumbled off a cliff and, as intended, plunged into a lake. But the door stuck fast and Haji Bhai drowned.
Among those who watched the disaster were a number of his relatives, who'd come to see him perform for the last time. They brought along his son, Haji.
Despite seeing his father die and despite safety conditions not having improved much since his father's death, Haji has chosen the same profession. 'I just trust in God and hope I'll be OK,' he says, sitting in the Movie Stunt Artists Association office in Mumbai.