Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar will soon launch an insurance scheme exclusively for stuntwomen and stuntmen. The scheme, according to a Hindustan Times report, is the brainchild of the actor as well as cardiac surgeon Dr Ramakanta Panda.
The insurance scheme is aimed at making the stunt artists more passionate towards their job and will cover 380 stuntmen and women between 18 and 55 years of age. According to the policy, when hospitalised due to any physical injury or accident while doing stunts, the stunt person will be covered for Rs 6 lakhs at about 4,000 hospitals through a cashless system.
“Even if they get into a hospital that’s not a part of the network, they can still avail of the benefit through reimbursements,” a source tells HT. And upon the death of a stunt person, there is a provision of Rs 10 lakhs, which will be given to whoever the stuntman chooses as their nominee.
Ejaz Gulab, the general secretary of Movie Stunt Artist Association, said that Akshay Kumar has some sort of “magic wand” to make the impossible possible. “Over the years, we had approached a number of producers and insurance companies, but they didn’t agree to provide insurance to us. It was very demoralising. We can’t thank him enough, as it has come as great news for us,” he said.
Recommended
A year ago, Akshay Kumar told IANS about the importance of proper safety guidelines for stunt performers in Bollywood.
“Safety is not great here (in Bollywood). Now finally we have ambulance and doctors on the sets for the stuntman and the cast and crew. (However) it’s surprising that there are no insurance for stuntman in Bollywood, so we are all trying to get an insurance done for stuntman,” he said.