It was a miraculous escape for Jacky Bhagnani, the son of Bollywood producer Vashu Bhagnani. Minutes after he stepped out of a van during shooting for "Kal Kissne Dekha", the van exploded in a ball of flames.
The incident occurred recently in Mumbai while his dad was shooting with Govinda and Sushmita Sen at the super luxury Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi.
How he managed to be outside the van when he was supposed to relax inside, is something Jacky is unable to find words to explain.
"Five minutes more in the van, and the airconditioner would've exploded on my face and also on my two cousins who had come to visit me on location. We were all sitting in the van waiting for Rishi Kapoor to arrive as he had a night shoot with me.
"I don't know what happened. I suddenly felt restless inside the van and then I sprang out of my chair and told my cousins to step out with me for a walk. A few minutes later, we heard a loud noise behind us. We turned and saw the whole van up in flames," Jacky said.
Jacky claims he had a negative feeling for the van from the beginning. "I felt something wrong from the minute I stepped into the van. I told the unit to change my van. And they promised to do so the next day. But before that, this unheard-of catastrophe happened. I've never heard of an airconditioner exploding, have you?"
{{/usCountry}}Jacky claims he had a negative feeling for the van from the beginning. "I felt something wrong from the minute I stepped into the van. I told the unit to change my van. And they promised to do so the next day. But before that, this unheard-of catastrophe happened. I've never heard of an airconditioner exploding, have you?"
{{/usCountry}}Bizarrely, Jacky plays a guy who gets premonitions in his debut film. "Yeah in 'Kal Kisne Dekha', I play a guy who can see things before they happen. I guess some of my character is rubbing off on me. Because I did feel uneasy in the van before it exploded."
Now Jacky is curled up in his frightened father's embrace in the luxury of Abu Dhabi.
Says the shuddering father Vashu Bhagnani: "When my son called from Mumbai to say there was an accident I thought he meant a road accident and asked him if he was okay. When I heard what it was, I couldn't stop shaking. People in Mumbai are talking about how much raw stock I've lost. But imagine what I could've lost! Now I'm looking at the accident positively. It's said that a fire before an event is auspicious. Maybe this means that my son's debut film will do well."