Action Reloaded

Now,after two decades,Shetty is returning to his roots with Singham. “With the line between single screens and multiplexes finally blurring,audiences from all strata are watching masala films. Action is again the box-office king. It is a good time for action directors to hone their expertise,” explains the director,who has also designed and choreographed the stunts for Devgn.

Shetty’s return as an action director is an example of how the action directors are back in business yet again,with their appointment diaries overflowing. Vijayan,the award-winning action director known for his stunts in Wanted and Dabangg,is hoping to recreate the magic with Salman Khan-starrer Bodyguard. Allan Amin has his hands full with the action of Force,Players and Dhoom 3. Filmmaker Puri Jaggannath has recreated vintage Bachchan in Bbuddah… Hoga Tera Baap. The director recounts how,since the release of Mard,he didn’t watch a single Amitabh Bachchan film for 25 years. “The action and aggression that Bachchan had once epitomised,had ceased to exist,” he sighs. So when the filmmaker got the opportunity,he penned the script for Bbuddah and approached Bachchan to play the role of the ‘angry young man’ once again.

Action directors,better known as ‘stunt coordinators’ in the 1970s,made their presence felt in Bollywood with films like Deewaar,Dharam Veer,Zanjeer and many others. Ravi Khanna,Kodi S Irani and Veeru Devgan were behind the mean kicks and punches that popular actors like Bachchan,Dharmendra and Shatrughan Sinha delivered. The next big wave of action directors — Ravi Dewan,Jay Singh Nijjar and Akbar Bakshi — came in the 1990s to give us action heroes such as Devgn,Akshay Kumar and Suneil Shetty. However,the predominance of dramas,romances and comedies ruled over action until Ghajini,Wanted and Dabangg marked the return recently. “It wasn’t like we did not have work — in Bollywood,there’s bit of action even in dramas,comedies and rom-coms,” clarifies Amin. “But the last two years have completely turned the tide for us. If until three years ago,we would do up to two action films a year,now upto six films are being made,” says Amin,who has just completed 100 days of action shoot for Players,which has Abhishek Bachchan and Bobby Deol doing stunts.

This recent trend also means that it is upon the action directors to ensure that one film can be differentiated from the others. While Singham will have raw hand-to-hand fight sequences,Bbuddah and Bodyguard will stick to the popular South Indian style action. Players will have cable stunts that will emulate the sequences from Mission Impossible whereas Force is stylised with martial art moves,which makes it different from its Tamil original,Khakha Khakha. “More action films result in higher competition. And this means producers are happy to pump in more money. So experimenting with action sequences becomes easy,helping us differentiate them.” The risk factor has also reduced with action directors making use of harness,cables and other equipments in order to make stunts safe and user-friendly to the actors. The cars and bikes too are of very high quality and various modifications are made in them to suit the stunts.

Bachchan,who is returning to action after long,too,is overwhelmed with the recent concepts in action. “Back in the ‘70s,we did our stunts without any protection and the body went through a lot of wear-and-tear. But now,all you need is some flexibility; the rest is taken care of by action directors. And to perfect these further,there is always the computer,” he smiles.

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