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Journalism of Courage
It’s a tragic example of art imitating life. While the fact that the Kargil conflict claimed many lives is well-known, what isn’t is that even a film based on it — J.P. Dutta’s LoC — suffered two casualties recently.
According to army sources in Leh Corps, two members of the film crew — aged between 25-40 years — died last month while shooting in high-altitude areas near Leh and Karu in Ladakh. While one is suspected to have died because of ‘‘excessive alcohol’’ consumption the other reportedly suffered a ‘‘massive heart attack’’ after a day of extensive filming. The shooting was finally completed last week.
Following the deaths, the army has chalked out extensive guidelines for film crew and mediapersons operating in high altitude areas.
The crew was said to have been shooting at altitudes between 9,000 feet and 11,000 feet above sea level. The casualties were Francis, a camera attendant, and Gandhi, a lighting equipment assistant.
Army sources said they had advised the entire 170-member unit, including the actors to abstain from drinking and smoking — both are dangerous in the rarefied air — during the first few days.
Confirming the two casualties, J.P. Dutta’s father, O.P. Dutta, who is also the writer of the film, said: ‘‘It is very unfortunate that we had these two mishaps. We had taken all precautions but mishaps do happen. I insisted on a post-mortem. Apparently one had consumed too much alcohol and fell off the bed at night. The doctors used a stomach pump to clear his system but all efforts to revive him failed.’’ He added: ‘‘I had the entire film crew insured. Apart from that, J.P. Films also gave compensation to the next of kin of the two boys who died.’’
Based on the May-July ’99 Kargil conflict, LoC is a multi-starrer with Sunny Deol, Ajay Devgan, Sunil Shetty, Sanjay Dutt and Abhishek Bachchan in the lead. The film boasts of having used ‘‘live ammunition’’ during the firing scenes.
‘‘We had to shoot at the firing range since we were using live ammunition. But the army guided us and we took all precautions to ensure there were no accidents,’’ said Dutta.
Apart from Dutta’s team, Viraat and Amir Raza Hussain’s crew is also shooting in the area for Vijay — another film based on the Kargil conflict.
Claiming that it was their ‘‘moral responsibility’’ to see that the crews had adequate information about survival in high altitude areas, sources at the Army Headquarters said: ‘‘It is a big change for these Mumbai wallahs — coming from sea level to 10,000 feet. But these hero-types think they can just land and start running around.’’
