Seasoned Tollywood actor Balakrishna recently drew a large crowd in Visakhapatnam while shooting for his upcoming film 'Legend'. What’s unusual about that, you may ask? The masses had gathered to watch the 50-plus actor perform a risky action scene while riding a horse himself and not opting for a stunt double. And Balayya isn’t the only middle-aged T-town star to push the limits when it comes to age-defying stunts, he is joined by colleagues Nagarjuna and Venkatesh.
“While filming 'Rajanna', we had to re-shoot a horse-riding scene due to a technical issue. At this age, it’s quite a strain physically but I wanted to do it myself,” says Nagarjuna, who was seen performing a lot of high-octane action stunts in his last release 'Bhai'.
In the past, all the top actors like NTR, ANR, Krishna, Sobhan Babu and Krishnam Raju used body doubles for the risky scenes. But these days, the 50-plus actors are competing with leading men who are much younger. That, coupled with the pressure to look good, makes them work even harder and go the extra mile to entertain the audiences.
“I worked with Nagarjuna garu in 'Bhai' and as far as I know, he never uses a body double for the action scenes in any of his films. He insists on doing the stunts himself even if they are risky. That shows his dedication,” says director VeerabhaÂdram, adding that audience can be tough to please as they are always compared to the younger actors.
Of course, a lot depends on the action directors who do their best to ensure that the action scenes are carried out smoothly. Since they know the actors well and are aware of their limitations and strengths, they design the scenes in a way to minimise the stress. Even Venkatesh was seen performing some impressive stunts in the action film 'Shadow'. “I did such stylised action scenes after a long gap and even though we used a lot of cables for safety, the satisfaction at the end was great. When we do such scenes, we are always thinking about the film,” says the actor, who has even injured himself a couple of times. Action shots require a lot of prior preparation and take longer to shoot than other regular scenes. How does he deal with the stress? “Yes, we do feel the stress but regular exercise and yoga help the body stay fit,” Venky replies.
But when it comes to the 50-plus action heroes, Balakrishna’s name always tops the list in T-town.
