Vicky Kaushal's Father Sham Kaushal Recollects Performing 'Scary' Stunts: 'I Had Burnt My Ears...'

Vicky Kaushal’s father and veteran action director Sham Kaushal recently opened up about the times of risk and distress while filming certain scenes from his films. In a new interview, he shared, how he felt like ‘breaking down’ during the shoot of the fire scene of Om Shanti Om.

As a stuntman, Sham opened up on the times, certain stunts where he felt he was ‘pushing it too far’. In an interview with Komal Nahta, he recollected performing one of the scariest stunts of his life and shared how burnt his ears once. “I was doing a stunt where my body was on fire and I had to run and jump into a swimming pool. By the time, I was near the swimming pool, I was really feeling the heat. I had burnt my ears so I jumped into the pool before the mark from where I was originally supposed to jump. I could see the flame above me.”

When asked if ever such situation came up, after he became an action director, he recollected two incidents from Om Shanti Om and Raavan where he was extremely stressed.

Recalling the fire scene in Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan’s Om Shanti Om, Sham said, “In Om Shanti Om, where there is a fire on the film’s set… The actors were on set, there were three cameras, 60 people from my team were also inside. We had to be very particular about the timing of lighting the fire and then dousing it because difference of one second can prove to be dangerous. These are the moments that kill you and you feel like you’re going to suffer a heart attack. I end up breaking down at times.”

Recollecting an action scene from Mani Ratnam’s Raavan, he shared, “In Mani Rathnam’s film’s climax scene, the bridge collapses and there is a fight sequence on it. We had constructed an actual bridge on the Malshej ghat and there was no way to get to it and the valley was 2000 feet deep. My stunt team used to first go and rehearse. We would make them wear a harness, drop them on the bridge by a crane, and make them rehearse. They would be brought back and then we would take the actors. These moments… they were killing me.”

In the late 70s, Vicky Kaushal’s Dad was a stunt performer. He has worked in several commercially hit movies including PK, Sanju, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and Padmaavat.