Its curtains for the daredevil escape act that Malayalam actor Mohanlal was scheduled to perform on the 27th of April at Trivandrum.

The escape was one straight out of Houdini’s book, a risky fire escape stunt where the performer would be handcuffed and chained. As we had reported earlier he had been training under famous magician Muthukad Gopinath for the past 18 months and had reportedly become quite adept at the act.

However, the announcement that he was going to attempt this act had sparked off many protests all over Kerala. The protests reached their crescendo yesterday when another famous magician Samrat staged a demonstration demanding Mohanlal to abstain from this dangerous act. Samrat, locked himself up in a casket and proclaimed that he would remain in a mortuary until Mohanlal withdrew from the event. Police had to subsequently interfere to stop the protests and found the magician to be unconscious within the casket. He was later hospitalized.

There was also added pressure from various quarters with the All Kerala Mohanlal Fan’s association leading them, requesting the actor not to put his life at serious risk. The Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) president too was of the same opinion. There was also pressure from many of his close friends and well-wishers. All this has led Mohanlal to take the decision to not go ahead with the planned escape act.