Masti Gudi all over again: Actress falls to death during shooting

The junior artiste was shooting for Nanda Kishore’s VIP when she died.
Her son alleged that he learnt of her death from the media and not the film crew.
The film crew had not obtained permission to use the building and had not taken precautions.

Two months after two actors drowned during the shooting of Masti Gudi, Sandalwood has been hit with the news of another fatality during the production of a movie. Padmavati (44), a junior artiste, was shooting for the movie VIP when she fell to her death from the 18th floor of an under-construction building at Avalahalli, near Rajanukunte in Bengaluru, on January 9.

The movie was being directed by Nanda Kishore and featured Manoranjan, son of V Ravichandran, as the lead. The movie was produced by Rockline Venkatesh. The incident did not come to light even after the completion of shooting. When the film team packed up and was ready to leave, they found Padmavati missing. After searching for her throughout the building, they found Padmavati’s body in the basement of the lift passage.

While the filmmakers claimed that they had immediately informed Padmavati’s son Kiran about her death, he alleged that he learnt of the incident from TV channels. Rajanukunte Police arrested Narasimha, production manager, and registered a case of suspicious death. It is unclear why the actress had gone to the 18th floor as the movie shoot was being conducted on the 3rd floor.

Padmavati was a resident of Jakkuru. The building where the film shooting was being conducted belonged to the Prestige Group. The construction workers had kept a cement sheet across the lift pit. Police suspect that she may have lost her balance and had fallen. Local residents believe that the incident took place at around 12 PM, but the team only found out about the incident at 3.30 PM when the shooting got over. By the time the actress’ body was found, the director had left the spot.

The filmmakers had reportedly not obtained permission to conduct the movie shoot at the under-construction facility and had not taken any precautionary measures. They had reportedly not informed the police. About 120 junior artistes were at the spot for shooting.

Nanda Kishore expressed his condolences over Padmavati’s death but declared that the film crew was not responsible for the accident.

Last Updated Mar 31, 2018, 6:42 PM IST