Akshay Kumar’s film ‘Kesari’, which depicted the historic 1897 Battle of Saragarhi, included several large-scale war scenes. While filming the climax sequence in April 2018, a massive fire broke out, completely destroying the set. There were no casualties, but the damage was estimated at around Rs 8 crore. Recalling the incident in a recent interview, SFX supervisor Vishal Tyagi said the team could do nothing but watch the blaze for nearly two hours because there were no safety measures in place on set.
‘Kesari’ shoot lacked safety measures
Talking to Hindi Rush, the SFX supervisor said, “We were shooting for Kesari in Hawai. We had to film a big explosion. Initially, we were about to put a separate wall, but didn’t have the budgets. So, we decided to do the explosion on the wall of the set only. After that incident, I learnt how to say no on that set, I never used to say no earlier. There were no safety measures on the set. I told them that we should get the motor and pipes from Mumbai, but they said that there are no budgets for this. When I was fixing the set for an explosion to shoot in the evening. Then, a foreign action-director came to me and said that there should also be a fire element in this.”
‘Kesari’ fire becomes a major lesson
Even though the fire did not result in any casualties, Tyagi shared that the experience became a turning point for him, teaching him when to refuse certain risks. He recalled, “I didn’t calculate that the wall was made of PV foam and it is highly flammable. I hadn’t put petrol, but did it using gas poppers, but one spark made it catch fire. They had no safety measures, and even the fire marshal had one powder cylinder, which can’t even reach heights. The entire crew saw the set burning and destroying for two hours. There was no casuality because it started burning slowly and the set was out in the open.”
‘Kesari’ fire row and director’s support
Tyagi revealed that after the fire, Dharma Productions, the producer of Kesari, held him accountable for the incident, but director Anurag Singh backed him during the situation. “Since that day, I learnt to say no – that if you don’t have safety, I won’t do the blast. I was not the villain in that incident, but I was blamed for the fire. Dharma people questioned me, ‘What have you done?’ But, the director supported me and said that this wasn’t only my fault. Then, everything cooled down and no one said anything to me,” the SFX expert said.
‘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 Mehta, and Sunir Kheterpal. Its sequel, ‘Kesari Chapter 2: The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh’, was released in theatres on April 18, 2025. The film is a historical courtroom drama directed by debutant Karan Singh Tyagi.
