Beginning with Mad Max stunt artiste who was flown down for the shoot, Aditya Chopra is all set to rope in four action directors to design stylized sequences for Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathan. While the director-producer duo has yet to finalize the remaining stunt coordinators, South African stunt artiste Craig MacRae has already reported to the film’s set in Mumbai.
“Craig, who runs the stunt company, Titan Stunts with Katja Hopkins, and his four-member team landed in the city on June 8. After quarantining at a Juhu hotel, the team joined Shah Rukh and John Abraham this week. The actors kicked off the latest schedule with confrontation scenes, and will film major fight sequences early next month. Craig is a highly-skilled martial artiste too, and has designed sequences for Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Bloodshot (2020) and War (2019),” revealed a trade source.
The source added, “The idea behind having different experts is to have breathtaking stunts in the movie, ranging from martial arts to hand-to-hand combat and chase sequences. Adi and Maneesh intend to conduct a schedule in Europe sometime between July and August, but the plan depends on the travel restrictions in the countries at the time. So, they are torn between two possibilities — either fly down the chosen stunt coordinators to India and shoot the sequences, or have them join the cast abroad.” It is also being said that Deepika Padukone and Dimple Kapadia will join the shoot this week at YRF studios.
After shooting for a few scenes in Mumbai, the team had earlier started working on extensive fight sequences in Dubai. It was also said that Shah Rukh and the team of Pathan had reportedly shot for an action scene inside Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world.
Pathan is part of Aditya Chopra’s huge lineup of films that are set to be announced soon. With Salman Khan’s Tiger 3, Junaid Khan’s debut Maharaj, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Siddhant Chaturvedi and debutant Sharvari’s Bunty Aur Babli 2, Vicky Kaushal’s next, Ranveer Singh’s Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Ranbir Kapoor’s Shamshera, YRF is expected to rule the box office as soon as theatrical business returns to normalcy.