Elephants clash at film shoot in Kothamangalam; injured jumbo disappears into forest; search on

Kothamangalam: During the shooting of a Telugu film near Boothathankettu in the forest area, two elephants brought to the set clashed with each other. One of the elephants, injured during the clash, ran amok and strayed into the forest. The incident occurred during a film starring Telugu superstar Vijay Deverakonda. As the elephant panicked, the film crew temporarily stopped shooting and left. Despite efforts by Forest Department officials, the injured elephant could not be located for a while. The search was called off for the night but will resume on Saturday morning.

For the shoot that began on Monday, five elephants were brought in. On Friday evening, around 5 pm at Koovappara in Thundam forest range, the scene involved unchaining the elephants to cross the road. It was during this time that Manikandan, one of the elephants, attacked another elephant named Puthuppally Sadhu. After getting attacked, Sadhu ran into the forest. Vijay Deverakonda was not present at the location during this incident.

When one of the elephants ran off in fear, the other elephants also became agitated. After considerable effort, they were moved away from the location.

This area belongs to the Malayattoor Forest Division, which has a significant presence of wild elephants. On Thursday, a herd of wild elephants was spotted just a few meters away from the shooting site. This area is where elephants usually cross the road. Forest officials mentioned that if a domesticated elephant encounters a herd of wild elephants, anything could happen.

The search is being carried out by various teams of forest guards, elephant caretakers (mahouts) and locals under the leadership of Malayattoor DFO Kurra Srinivas and Thundam Range Officer K Arun Kumar. 

The forest officials, meanwhile, said that even if they locate the elephant, it will be challenging to restrain it since its chains have been removed.