Akshay KumarThe film ‘Kesari’, which depicted the historic battle of Saragarh in 1897, featured several large-scale war scenes. In April 2018, while filming the climax sequence, a massive fire broke out, completely destroying the set. There were no casualties, but the damage was around 8 million. Recalling the incident in a recent interview, SFX supervisor Vishal Tyagi said that the team could only watch the fire for almost two hours as there were no safety precautions on the set.
The film ‘Kesari’ lacked security measures
Talking to Hindi Rush, the SFX supervisor said, “We were shooting Kesari in Hawaii. We had to shoot a big explosion. Initially, we were going to put up a separate wall, but we didn’t have the budget. So we decided to do the explosion only on the set wall. After that incident, I learned to say no on that set, I never said no before. There were no security measures on the set. I told them that we need to get the engine and pipes out of Mumbai, but there is no budget for that. In the afternoon when I was repairing an explosion to shoot. Then a foreign action director came to me and said there should be an element of fire in that too.’
‘Kesari’ fire becomes the main lesson
Although no one was killed in the fire, Tyagi said the experience became a turning point for him and taught him when to take certain risks. He recalled: “I didn’t calculate that the wall was made of PV foam and it’s very flammable. I didn’t put gasoline, but he did it using gas poppers, but a spark caught fire. They didn’t have any safety precautions, and the fireman also had a powder cylinder, which can’t even reach the height. The entire crew watched the set burn and destroy for two hours. There was no coincidence, because it started to burn slowly and the set was open.’
Firefighter ‘Kesari’ and the support of the manager
Tyagi revealed that after the fire, he held Dharma Productions, Kesari’s producer, responsible for the incident, but director Anurag Singh protected him in the situation. “From that day, I learned to say no, if you’re not safe, I won’t explode. I wasn’t the bad guy in that incident, but I was blamed for the fire. The Dharma people asked me, ‘What have you done?’ But, the manager helped me and said that it wasn’t just my fault. Then everything went cold and nobody told me anything,” said the SFX expert.
‘Kesari’ cast and sequel details
‘Kesari’ also starred Parineeti Chopra in an important role. The film was directed by Anurag Singh and produced by Karan Johar, Aruna Bhatia, Hiroo Yash Johar. Apoorva Mehtaand Sunir Kheterpal. Its sequel, ‘Kesari Chapter 2: The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh’, was released in theaters on April 18, 2025. The film is a historical court drama directed by the debutant. To Karan Singh Tyagi.
