‘Sanjay Khan was burnt from top to bottom’: Ananth Mahadevan recalls ‘most traumatic night’ when Tipu Sultan sets caught fire

Ananth Mahadevan, who was also a part of the series as Pandit Purnaiya, recalled the incident in a conversation with Siddharth Kannan. He said, “The day I had to fly to Mysore to the studio, my driver didn’t come to drop me at the airport. I ran, took a taxi and somehow reached the airport on time. When I reached Bangalore, no one came to receive and I didn’t know where to go. Hence, I hired taxi to drop me at Premier Studios, it was a three-hour drive.”

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The screenwriter-actor continued, “That taxi broke down thrice on the way. It felt like there were ominous signs that ‘Don’t go, just stop’. I didn’t know, it was a lifetime role for me! I reached on the sets at 5pm in the evening. Sanjay Khan was directing a Diwali scene. The roof top was too low and it was a village setup with hay all around. I told Khan sahab that we could have done this in film city in Mumbai also. He asked me to go see a palace nearby, I came back after a while and was sitting outside, I wanted to go to the hotel room and relax. With other 4-5 people, we reached the hotel and someone told us, ‘Bahut badi aag lagg gayi hai set par (There has been a big fire on the set)’.”

Ananth further elaborated that he went back and there was a huge furious crowd of villagers standing outside. “I saw a pile of dead bodies with so many fire engines there. Someone asked me to run away because the crowd might go mad. It was the most traumatic night for me. Next morning, the news spread like wildfire, but nobody knew if we were alive. We called our family and friends to let them know that we were alive. Everyone told me that you lost your job and your role, this will never be revived. I was in depression and didn’t know what to do.”

Around six months later, director Akbar Khan, Sanjay’s brother, was going to direct and they were casting again. “Another person’s photograph was placed for my character. I went to Akbar’s house and told him that his brother chose me to play that role. He gave me a vague answer but my photo was immediately put up replacing the other actor,” he remarked.

Talking about Sanjay’s health condition during that time, Ananth shared, “I went to the hospital where he was admitted and I saw him inside through the ICU glass. They were doing surgeries to figure how much he can be treated. They shot 25 episodes without him and Sanjay Khan’s entry happened after those six months. He got over the mental trauma, physical trauma, the wounds, and represented himself as Tipu Sultan,” and continued, “It requires a lot courage, he managed to pull it off as one of the most brave acts. He was burnt from top to bottom, including his face. He had to be admit for some kind of rehab, I met him after he came to Bombay. He rose from the flames like a phoenix.”