Zanjeer car stunt scene explained

Remember the scene from the movie Starsky & Hutch where the duo attempt to jump a Ford Torino onto the villain's yacht but end up in the sea? Crazy scene. Stunts like this make you want to go behind the scenes and see how it is actually done. And so when I was invited to the movie sets of the upcoming movie Zanjeer, to watch a car stunt scene being shot, it was the perfect recipe for a movie buff and an automobile fan like me.
The first scene that I saw when I reached the location of the shoot was a scrawny man walking across, carrying an entire brick wall! It took a moment for me to realise that the wall was made of thermocol bricks. You kind of guess that when you see it in the movies but it's only when you see it in reality that you realise the magnitude of the theatrics. The false brick walls, the cardboard huts et al covered an entire 'hill' to create a Mumbai slum. This was the location of the stunt.

The Grand Vitara demolishing everything in its path

Before the actual shoot began, ace rally driver Hari Singh, my host for the day, took me around and showed me the nitty gritties, the set, the false brick walls and the likes. The scene required the stuntman to drive through the maze of these brick walls as explosions rocked the slum. I am being told that the workers have been toiling on the sets since five in the morning. And this slum, created inside Film City would be destroyed on the same day depending on the stunt requirements and retakes.

The thermocol brick wall looks real on the big screen

The vehicles for a particular stunt are decided based on the requirement and how well they gel with the story. In this particular scene, the hero, a rich guy, is trying to exact revenge by razing down the slum - with his car. In the scene, the extras will be jumping around, trying to get away from the car's path to show as if they are scampering for their lives. All of this makes it a high-risk stunt to pull off. The film's director Apoorva Lakhia, says that during the film's conception, they visualise the set-up and stunts that they feel will give a twist to the story line. The stunt director is decided upon and then he takes the onus of getting the sets designed accordingly and within a specified budget. Apoorva rues the fact that there aren't good professional stuntmen in the country. For his movie Mission Istanbul, he had to use four specialised stuntmen from Malaysia. On a scale of 1-10, he rates the quality of Indian stunts at four. He says that we need to improve our stunting and co-ordinating skills primarily because In India, a stunt takes three seconds to finish and for a retake, 3-4 hours whereas abroad, it takes half of that time.

The regular Vitara and the rally-prepped one.

For the Zanjeer remake, he has roped in his childhood friend Hari Singh and Sunny Sidhu, also a daredevil rally driver. While Hari will choreograph the car stunt scenes, Sunny will be the stunt double for the lead actor, a four day job. Regarding the choice of the vehicle, Apoorva said that when he narrated the scene to Hari, the immediate suggestion was a Suzuki Grand Vitara. Hari had the SUVs ready with him - a rally prepped Vitara complete with a roll-cage for the stunt scene while a stock one will be used for the regular scenes.

As for the scene, coming downhill in an SUV and bashing through thermocol walls and then finishing it off with an impressive drift, requires skill and more importantly, guts. I thought I could pull it off too. I happened to echo these thoughts out loud and Apoorva smiled and said, "A stunt may take just a day or even days to complete. So we prefer professionals who can wrap it up within a day. With Sidhu, there are no retakes." Damn! There goes my career as a stunt driver.

Sunny Sidhu just before his shot

Abdul Javed Sheikh, the stunt director, has been doing this for 22 years. He says that car chase scenes are harrowing because in the end it's a machine that you are dealing with and you never know when it may turn rogue. The entire set, by now has been set up and we are asked to move away to safe locations. Hari gives Sunny the instructions over the radio and he comes barrelling down the hill, explosions all around him. The shot is okayed in one take. Everyone rushes towards Sunny to check his wellbeing. He is okay.
Post the scene, Sunny has one interesting tidbit to share. After he went through a couple of huts, he was blinded with all the flying thermocol debris. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw an extra, who had just tripped and would have been run over by the Vitara. But Sunny managed to nudge the brake pedal in time to avoid him but maintained his momentum to keep the continuity of the scene. The end result though was good – on camera the 'extra' managed to portray a realistic picture of him avoiding the car. Just what the doctor ordered for a scene like this. Injuries can happen in stunt scenes and even during this scene, Sunny had a close shave.

During his demolition run, he felt something hit the back of the helmet but it didn't hurt him so he went ahead and completed the stunt. It was only after coming to a stop he noticed the big gaping hole in the acrylic window which some burning object had pierced and hit his helmet. A lucky escape but Sunny shrugged it off saying - "All in a day's work!" I wonder if he will start a 'Sunny Stunt Driver Coaching Classes'.

Photographs by Ashok George