A split second separated Kajal Aggarwal from total disaster.
Filming was underway at EVP Film City in Poonamallee, Chennai, in February 2020—just weeks before national lockdowns froze the film trade. Director S. Shankar was staging a complex action sequence for Indian 2, his sprawling vigilante spectacle fronted by Kamal Haasan. Aggarwal sat near the director's monitor, dressed in heavy prosthetic makeup as an 80-year-old woman. Above them, a 100-foot-tall heavy crane suspended lighting equipment over the set. Without warning, the rig snapped.
Panic erupted. Scores of technicians and crew scrambled for exits across the soundstage. Aggarwal ran too, but stumbled into a table and crashed to the floor.
She froze.
That's literally when I thought to myself, 'What am I running away from? Let me just turn around and see once.' I turned my head back and I saw a 100-foot crane falling down towards me. All of this happened in a split second. I saw it falling and I was just frozen. I couldn't fathom what was happening.
The massive steel structure slammed into the earth inches away from where she lay paralyzed.
"The crane fell right next to me," Aggarwal recalled, describing the harrowing escape and stating that she remained trembling for days afterward. "I would have been the first one to go."
While Aggarwal, Shankar, and Haasan escaped the impact zone unharmed, the rig crushed the technical crew stationed directly beneath it. Three men died on impact.
Lyca Productions identified the deceased as assistant director Krishna, art assistant Chandran, and production assistant Madhu. Another nine crew members suffered severe injuries and were rushed to nearby emergency wards.
| Incident Parameter | Details Grounded in Official Filings |
|---|---|
| Production | Indian 2 (Lyca Productions & Red Giant Movies) |
| Location | EVP Film City, Poonamallee, Chennai |
| Timeline | February 2020 |
| Equipment Involved | 100-Foot Heavy Construction Crane |
| Fatalities | 3 (Krishna, Chandran, Madhu) |
| Injuries | 9 Technicians and Crew Members |
The tragedy altered Aggarwal's outlook entirely, leading her toward a deep personal faith in Lord Krishna as she processed surviving an industrial disaster that took three colleagues.
Indian 2, backed jointly by Lyca Productions and Udhayanidhi Stalin's Red Giant Movies, eventually regrouped to finish photography. The film rolled into theatres in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi, featuring an ensemble cast including Siddharth, S.J. Suryah, Gulshan Grover, Bobby Simha, and the late Nedumudi Venu alongside Haasan. Yet for those present on the Poonamallee floor that February night, the memory of the fallen rig remains permanently etched in steel and sorrow.
| Languages Released | Tamil, Telugu, Hindi |