It’s interesting how we hero-worship Bollywood actors, taking them to be Gods in most cases and condone them of their misdeeds because they’re the stars! What is more interesting is that we know nothing about the men and women who actually pull off the breathtaking stunts, the credits of which are seamlessly given to the Godlike stars of Bollywood. These daredevils of the film industry, are underpaid, never invited to award ceremonies and often find themselves in the most unprofessional, hazardous work environments. Let’s meet some of these super stuntmen and women of Bollywood. Riyaz Shaikh Riyaz Shaikh has been in the business for about 25 years now and he’s still fit as a fiddle. His father’s been a stuntman too and Riyaz, who had started off stunting for actors like Govinda is now body doubling for industry biggies like Hrithik Roshan. Although he has years of experience, Riyaz still felt the jitters when he had to jump off the 32nd floor of a building while body doubling Hrithik Roshan. However, the one thing that worries him the most, like most of his fellow stuntmen, is the lack of insurance plans covered for them in case things go wrong.

Munna

Munna could find some happiness in the fact that the persons he generally body doubles is most famous for a character that shares his name – Munna, Munna Bhai. The six-footer stuntman, Munna, is one of the veterans of the industry who is called for body doubling taller stars.

Although Munna never takes up an assignment where safety is not ensured, the calculative stuntman says he doesn’t really care about the stars taking away the credit. He just wants to make sure that the stars are safe and sound because the industry, including the bread and butter of a lot of workers, depends on the stars. However, even Munna was scared when he had to jump off the 14th floor and catch flag Sanjay Dutt in the movie Knockout.

Haji Kasam

Haji Bhai, one of the finest stuntmen in the industry, lost his life on the job in 1991. He was the go-to guy whenever Bollywood needed out of the world car stunts. Flipping a car upside down in the middle of the air was a part of the day’s job for Haji Kasam. His car stunts in movies such as Tezaab, Inaam Dus Hazaar and Karishma were nothing short of what animated pulp fictions are made of.

It was during the shooting of the movie Hamla that Haji Bhai where he had to drive a car into the water and jump out of it. Unfortunately, he was trapped inside and could not come out. Haji died on camera, aged 40.