The talented Iqbal actor Shreyas Talpade is a good practical joker. Recently, while shooting for the Prakash Jha-produced film Dil Dosti Etc, one of his pranks took a so-called nasty turn.

The shooting of Manish Tiwary's Dil Dosti Etc was progressing smoothly in Delhi, when Shreyas decided to topple things a bit and have some fun.

So during the last scene of the day at the canteen of Hindu College, Shreyas unleashed his wicked humour .

"There were huge fans on the sets to give the unit some respite from the sweltering Delhi heat and these coolers were the kind of old-fashioned with unprotected blades whirring away dangerously; definitely not the sort of thing you would want to get your hand caught in.

But while the rest of the unit was doubly careful about avoiding accidents, Shreyas apparently got careless. All of a sudden, he screamed frantically in pain.

To our discovery he had got one of his fingers caught in the fan blades and there was blood everywhere. The entire unit was scared out of their wits. We didn't know what to do," Recounts a unit member with a shudder.

"He was rushed to the hospital and everyone on the sets was terrified with Everyone speculating the extent of the damage and some people were even worried that his fingers might have to be amputated. Half an hour later, a grinning Shreyas returned to the college premises and said that the joke was on the unit! Shreyas had played a huge prank!"

A miffed director Manish Tiwary says, "I was canning a shot with some supporting actors on the set when I heard a sudden commotion behind my back. Shreyas had enacted his prank, but the news of Shreyas hurting his finger reached me only after the shot had been canned.

For that brief period till Shreyas returned to the set from the nearest health center, I was very worried. I kept thinking how Shreyas, an actor who is so deft with the smallest of props while acting, could let his finger go through a pedestal fan?"

Later, on realization that it was just a prank, Tiwary got upset. "I was initially very upset when I heard that it was a prank. But later, I was relieved that Shreyas had not been hurt. We made sure we kept all such unsafe equipment off the set after that!"

Dil Dosti Etc is set around students at Delhi University. Imaad, Naseeruddin Shah's son, is perfect for the role of Apurv, while was perfect for the role of Sanjay Mishra, the middle-class Bihari student-politician."