ACTION FILMS SHOULD LOOK MORE GENUINE SALMAN
With minimal use of special effects in Race 3, Salman Khan is set to redefine the genre of action films
With Race 3, he is back in his shirtless, action-star avatar but actor Salman Khan says the stakes are higher this time as they have tried to keep the stunts realistic yet high-octane.
“It’s tricky (to get the action right). Sometimes, you go overboard and when you go realistic, the audience prefer the earlier films’ action... So we needed to be careful. Action has to look genuine and believable. It can’t look farcical and can’t make you laugh. Physically also, it’s a lot of strain and hard work. If you don’t look the part, physically, and end up doing unbelievable action, people laugh at you,” says Salman.
The 52-year-old actor, who has been part of action films, such as Bodyguard (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012), Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015) says that it’s easy to use special effects for action sequences but in the upcoming film, they decided to go against it as they wanted the scenes to be authentic even when they were blowing up cars. “Tom Struthers is the guys who had done action for Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) but he’s done action for Christopher Nolan films like Dunkirk and for the Batman series. While we were shooting, they said, ‘We’ve shot for so many films, but we’ve never seen someone go so ahead and destroy so many cars’,” he says, adding, “All the action in the film is not dinky cars, or special effects blowing up. It is real and all the cars, too. They aren’t special effect cars, these are the cars we bought.”
The film will see Jacqueline Fernandez and Daisy Shah also do action sequences. “The kicks they have given are lethal. They have trained for it. It looks like two men fighting and it has humour, too,” adds Salman.
When asked if he would like to make women-centric action films, Salman says, “It depends on the script and the casting. If there is action and if you can manage to make the film in a budget, sell the digital and satellite rights the film will cover the cost. The math has to be right. Action costs a lot of money, it needs to stand out and look good. Otherwise, it looks tacky.”
Salman is the new entrant in this action film franchise that was earlier headlined by Saif Ali Khan. Explaining his character in the film, Salman says, “This part is slightly different from the earlier two films. It is Race with Hum Aapke Hai Kaun! This guy is sharp, has humour and is even ruthless, who has suppressed his emotions.”