Bollywood actor Shilpa Shirodkar recently looked back on a frightening incident from the early 1990s when she nearly drowned while shooting the song ‘Sanam Mere Sanam’ with Govinda for the film ‘Hum’. She revealed that film sets at the time lacked even basic safety measures, with no life jackets or rescue arrangements in place.During the latest episode of ‘India’s Best Dancer Season 5’, Shilpa received a special video message from Govinda, who fondly recalled their successful collaborations before sharing the dramatic behind-the-scenes story.Remembering the incident, Govinda said, “Woh, use tairna nahi aata. Halanki mujhe bhi, main bhi koi accha swimmer toh tha nahi. Shilpa paani mein doob gayi aur main akela chala raha hoon. ‘Haye haye Shilpa kidhar hai re? Kidhar hai?’ Gayi paani mein. Phir? Main jaake Shilpa ko baahar nikala. Ab baahar aate heen Shilpa boli, ‘Tujhya aayela… arey isse kaha tha ki mujhe abhi swimming nahi aati hain, kaaye ko isme daal diya hain?’ (She didn’t know how to swim. Honestly, I wasn’t a very good swimmer either. Shilpa suddenly sank into the water while I was left navigating the boat alone. I kept shouting, ‘Where is Shilpa?’ She had disappeared underwater. I jumped in and pulled her out. As soon as she came out, she scolded everyone in Marathi, saying she had already told them she didn’t know how to swim and questioned why she had been made to do the shot).”Govinda’s animated retelling left Shilpa laughing as he recreated the chaos of the moment. Looking back on the experience, the actress said the working conditions during that period were vastly different from today’s standards.“Jis situation mein shooting karte the, bohot gin-chun ke log the. Main leather pant mein thi aur wahan pe W.B. Rao sir dusre boat mein aise bol rahe the pose karne, and I was panicking because we were in mid-water. Only four people were there. No life jacket, kuch nahi. And that’s how we worked at that time. (The conditions in which we used to shoot were completely different. There were very few people on set. I was wearing leather pants, while W.B. Rao sir was in another boat asking me to pose. I was panicking because we were in the middle of the water with only four people around. There were no life jackets or any safety equipment. That’s how we worked back then).”For those unfamiliar, ‘Hum’ featured an ensemble cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Govinda, Shilpa Shirodkar and Kimi Katkar. The near-drowning incident took place while filming the popular track ‘Sanam Mere Sanam’.
