The gory action in the spy thriller Dhurandhar: The Revenge is ‘deeply rooted in emotional drama’ and ‘influenced by the brutal realities’ of the criminal world, said the film’s action director Aejaz Gulab.
Aejaz has earlier worked in popular Bollywood films, including Shootout at Lokhandwala, Ek Villain, Saiyaara, and OTT series The Family Man, Rana Naidu, Guns & Gulaabs.
“People used to praise action in South films. It feels good that action in Hindi films is finally being appreciated,” Aejaz told India-based news agency PTI.
Aejaz has spent 70 days on intensive preparation and 135 days filming action sequences in Dhurandhar.
“The action is part fiction, part reality. Aditya sir gave me a free hand to do whatever I wanted. We designed every action sequence keeping the story, character, and their angst in mind, and then we would run it through him for his inputs,” Aejaz said.
He was initially set to collaborate with Dhar for Uri: The Surgical Strike, but couldn’t due to date issues. For the Ranveer Singh-starrer spy thriller, Aejaz led a team including seven assistants, 12 stuntwomen, and nearly 300 stuntmen.
The 54-year-old action film director said that the brutality seen on screen was a ‘deliberate choice’ dictated by the script’s ‘heavy dramatic undertones’.
“The script demanded that we design action sequences in a brutal way. The film is about the underworld and gangsters, and these people are known for their ruthless acts,” he said, justifying the criticism.
“It’s not mindless action; the action is backed by emotion. As an action director, I’m merely an executor of the director’s vision,” he said.
Aejaz said they maintained safety precautions while filming action sequences: “The blasts were real, but for action scenes involving fire or risky falls, like one of the scenes in the climax where Ranveer had to drop down from a certain height and also for the bike sequence with Yalina (Sara Arjun), we used body doubles.”
“We could have done much more terrifying things (on screen), but we did only 60 per cent of it, keeping the censor board and public sensitivity in mind,” he said.
