Patna: Following the release of his blockbuster, Krrish, Hrithik Roshan has become the latest Indian hero to be emulated in style and fashion. The difference being this time those doing so are the children.

Many children now own Krrish masks and other merchandise, and painstakingly learn to copy every move on the silver screen so they, too, can defeat the 'bad guys'.

However, it seems most are not being told by the adults in their lives 'don't try this at home' in regard to the stunts.

Hrithik has said in many interviews that the stunts took a great deal of training, practice, safety equipment, and most of all - computer generated special effects.

In a recent interview he said:

So now Hrithik Roshan has become a superhero...

Huh, hardly. I thank God for the success of Krrish, but now it's time to talk about new projects.

It seems that you have mastered the art of stunts. After doing Wushu in Krrish, now you have done few more daring stunts in Dhoom 2?

They both are so different... Krrish was about a super human being. But in Dhoom 2 my character is that of a normal human being. He has just got skills that he has developed into a sport.

If I needed to train for one-and-a-half months in Hong Kong for Krrish, there is this one sequence in Dhoom 2 that required me to train for two months. And we have three such sequences for which I needed training.

Why do you take risks in every film you do. Aren't you afraid of accidents?

Actually, I don't think that I have ever taken a blind risk. I don't get into doing stunts without thinking. The idea is to train yourself completely so that you are always aware of the risk and your instincts are developed enough to react spontaneously and save yourself from any impending danger.

Unfortunately, it seems these points are not being stressed to the children, as regrettable and avoidable accidents continue to occur. The latest being seven year old Shivam, a resident of Bhootnath Road in Kankarbagh in Patna. On Monday, in a bid to fetch a ball, the small boy jumped from the top of a five-story apartment building, nearly killing himself in the process. Since the area usually remains waterlogged during rains, children in the locality play on their roofs. Shivam and his friends were on the roof of their building, a High Income Group apartment in the Bahadurpur area of the city. Apparently, the boy was playing ball with his friends when the ball went over the edge. After telling another boy to move aside, Shivam stood on the edge of the building and jumped. After hitting the ground five floors below, Shivam passed out, not surprisingly.

He was immediately rushed to the ICU ward of Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) where he was listed in critical condition with several broken bones.

Although he does have several injuries, none that are life threatening. "Doctors say he is out of danger and has not sustained major injuries," Arvind Khandelwal, Shivam’s uncle said. He said the Class II student saw the movie a few days ago.

"I do not know if he was influenced by the film... As far as I know he fell off while playing," the uncle said. However, his friends and neighbours are convinced that he actually was influenced by Krrish.

According to Shivam's friends and parents, the boy had been imitating the superhero ever since recently seeing the film. They say he had mastered all the mannerisms of the hero Krrish, played by Hrithik Roshan, and thought he could fly and jump tall buildings with his 'superpowers'.

"He got on to the boundary of the roof and asked another boy, sitting nearby, to get aside. And then he jumped," recalled Kunal, one of the five children who were playing with Shivam when the incident occurred.

Isha Mullick, Shivam's teacher said he was fond of wearing the mask given free with the purchase of soaps of a particular brand.

"Perhaps we should stop making films like Krrish and TV serials like Shaktimaan," she felt.

Shivam's next-door neighbour, S N Prasad. said the boy always talked about the superhero. "He used to mimick Krrish beating up the villains," he said. A retired government employee, Prasad is convinced that the film has an 'evil effect' on children.

A teacher in a local business management institute, Prof R P Sahu who resides in the same building, echoed similar views. "My grandson keeps pestering me to purchase the particular brand of soap so that he can get the mask," he said.

"All children appear to have idolised superheroes and started behaving like them," he said.

Additionally, mothers of small children in the area have become concerned by the incident. Most of the children have been stopped from going to the roof to play.

In all the fervour to blame these incidents on the film itself, one mother seemed to see things more clearly.

"It's a case of sheer negligence by parents... They should not let their children play alone these days," one housewife said as she prayed for Shivam to survive.

It is all too easy to lay blame on the films, filmmakers and actors for these incidents, which have involved both children and adults. Recently child psychologists, filmmakers and actors have all been stressing that the adults in the lives of children should be more diligent and insure the child is aware that the stunts seen in such films are just that, stunts, tricks. Insure they are aware these actors are not supermen and women. They are ordinary humans, just like them, who have to have special training and lots of safety gear - not to mention the SFX studios and technicians - to help them look like heroes.

Action in films is not a new thing, Hollywood has done it for decades, and it is improving in Indian cinema. It is not going anywhere; it is here to stay. Moreover, with big budget films such as Don bringing in 'the big boys' of Hollywood to direct and create the action for these film, it is only going to get even bigger and better.

If parents, grand-parents, teachers and other adults do not begin to tell children the truth behind the illusions, these injuries and deaths will only increase. In Dhoom2, Hrithik will be performing even more stunts and far more dangerous that leaping tall building in a single bound. In Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming, highly awaited Don, a stunt team from Hollywood has been brought in to work with the actor as he does a stunt that involves a 15,000 foot drop - head first.

Now, if we do not stress to the children that this is not to be repeated, what horror stories are we going to hear as a result?

I, for one, don't want to have to report the death, rather than injury, of a seven year old who wanted to be 'cool' like Don.