New Delhi. Even though VFX and CGI have made the world of films safe and technologically advanced, there was a time when artists had to shoot amidst real danger. One such horrifying and famous incident is related to the 1982 film ‘Ashanti’, which gave goosebumps to the audience at that time.
A scene was filmed in this film, which is still counted among the most risky scenes of Indian cinema. According to the story, the actor playing the role of villain in the film had to do a scene with a live cobra snake. The scene was that he would pick up the snake in his hand and bring it very close to his face and would stick out his tongue and pretend that the snake was biting him.
The real cobra was present on the set and the entire unit was shooting the scene with utmost caution. As soon as the actor picked up the snake and brought it close to his face and started acting, suddenly an unexpected incident happened. The snake tried to bite very close to his tongue and bit him.
After this incident, there was complete silence on the set for a few moments. Everyone got scared, but later it was found out that the poison of the snake had already been taken out, hence any major disaster was avoided.
This dangerous scene was part of the character of Raja Bhisham Bahadur Singh played by Amrish Puri in the film. This scene was filmed to make his character look even more scary and impressive, in which he shows himself to be so ruthless that even snake venom has no effect on him.
After the release of the film, this scene became so famous that many viewers did not believe that it was a real shooting. Amrish Puri’s powerful screen presence and this dangerous stunt further cemented his place among the most memorable villains of Hindi cinema.
Even today, this scene of ‘Ashanti’ is counted among those rare scenes in Indian film history, seeing which the audience is surprised and also salutes the courage of filmmaking of that era.
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