What does Rohit Shetty do with all those cars?

Be it Dilwale (2015), Chennai Express (2013) or Singham (2011), filmmaker Rohit Shetty is known for the extravagant car scenes in his films — he uses major marques and big, expensive vehicles that go flying, get blown up etc. What happens to the cars that survive the chase and explosion scenes? They live out the rest of their lives in Shetty’s basement and get taken out for a drive from time to time.

When we caught up with him recently, Shetty told us that he doesn’t discard a single one of these cars. “They are all with me. Of course, if a car has crashed [in the film], then we can’t do anything. But we try to keep the rest of the cars. We sometimes use these again in the next films, but otherwise they just stay in the basement. It’s becoming like a museum. Sometimes I take them out for a spin,” says the filmmaker.

Talking about the massive budget for all his films, Shetty says that this is required to give the audience a largerthan-life experience. “I make films for my audience. The tickets today for all films cost `500-700 and we need to give them quality. For me, cinema is larger-than-life. If I cut the budget, it’s like I am cheating the viewers. I don’t want to do that. They come with certain expectations of seeing something on screen... to see larger-than-life songs and sets. I have to give them that,” says Shetty, who is shooting for his next film, starring Ajay Devgn and Parineeti Chopra.

For me, cinema is larger-than-life. If I cut the budget, it’s like I am cheating the viewers. They come with certain expectations ROHIT SHETTY, FILMMAKER