Allan Amin is one of the most reputed action directors in the country. He scored with fight scenes not just in cool action films like Main Hoon Na, Dhoom, Dus, etc, but also in gritty realistic flicks in Satya, Bandit Queen, etc. In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, Allan Amin explained what has gone wrong with action in Bollywood in recent times.
EXCLUSIVE: Action director Allan Amin SLAMS action in present-day Hindi films: “It looks fake. In Dhoom, I made Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham fight on the trailer. The same sequence was copied in Pathaan, involving Shah Rukh Khan and John”
It is said that people are tired of watching slick action. This is also said to be one of the reasons why the action in Bade Miyan Chote Miyan didn’t impress people. Do you feel the same?
Yes, because rubbish is shown in the name of action. When you exaggerate, you need to do it only a little. That’s what I did in Dhoom 2 (2006). I made Hrithik Roshan jump from a helicopter onto a moving train. Before shooting the sequence, I told a base jumper, ‘Jump, land on the train and show me’. He jumped on a trial basis and touched his feet on the train. That’s when I realized that this is possible. And only then, we went ahead with the scene. Or else, we would not have done the scene.
Gadar 2 and Animal, meanwhile, worked as the action was more raw. Do you feel that appealed to the people?
Yes, absolutely. Those two films worked because no one was flying in the air.
Our makers should follow Mission Impossible and see how they do it. Is Tom Cruise stupid to hang outside a plane? Will our actors have the guts to do so? If not, then at least follow what they are doing.
There’s also a trend of getting foreign action directors…
These trends were always there. Sometimes, we get foreigners to do action. At times, foreign cinematographers are signed.
But the problem is that filmmakers, at times, copy and paste. In War (2019), they took inspiration from Fast And Furious and other films. The makers are like ‘Aapne yeh uss film mein kiya hai, same cheez mujhe karke do’. Hence, the makers don’t come up with innovative ideas.
Tell us about those days when actors used to do the stunts themselves…
There were actors like Akshay Kumar who could do stunts. I made him hang under a helicopter and bang into cars in a film called Ashaant (1993). And he did it very well. Even today, he’ll open his iPad and show that scene to you!
He also did a risky aeroplane scene in Khiladi 420 (2000)…
If he could do it then, he could do it now also. But you need to conceptualize such a sequence. Nowadays, it’s all done against the blue screen. Also, the content has to be there.
Tell us about your journey and how you got into this line…
My dad was an action director, A Ghani. I was initially more into racing. I used to race motorcycles as a hobby. He told me, ‘Why are you riding bikes? You come and do stunts for us’. Hence, I started doing stunts and also followed it with a racing career to some extent.
Which was your first film?
I started with Dil (1990) and Beta (1992). I jumped the bike through the bus and truck in Dil. In Beta, we shot the ‘well of death’ scene.
At the same time, you also worked in a film like Satya (1998)…
Those days, there were no cables. So, the action was very realistic in that film. I followed two types of genres when it comes to action. One was the go-all-out type and the other was realistic action. Satya fell into the latter category and so did Sarkar series and Company (2002).
Which are some of the films that you are proud of?
Many of them but one film that stands out is Bandit Queen (1994). The newspapers in the UK wrote about me and the action in the film in their reviews. They wrote that you have to see it to believe the action pulled off in this film.
Which is a film in recent times that impressed you with its action?
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One. That is what real action is, not the one where you are running and jumping against a green screen. It looks fake. In Dhoom, I made Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham fight on the trailer. The same sequence was copied in Pathaan, involving Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham. Instead of a truck, it was the bus. It was the same thing but it did not reach the level of Dhoom. If you show a kid the scene of Dhoom and then Pathaan, even he’d say ‘They (Pathaan’s makers) could have made it a little real at least’.
We don’t see your work much nowadays. Why is that?
I have slowed down a little. How much will I work? It’s been 40 years since I started working.
Any final thoughts?
Please follow Mission Impossible’s action, so that our industry gets recognized. Even in Mission Impossible, they go over the top with the action. But it looks real and doable. We put stuff that can’t be done. For instance, Shah Rukh and John flying in the air in Pathaan. How is that possible? Tell me one sequence of Mission Impossible where you feel ‘this is not possible’. Maybe, it’s not possible for you but for Tom Cruise, it is possible. Hence, I look up to him. He actually hung outside Burj Khalifa. Doing stunts at this age is unbelievable. Even in Fast & Furious, every action scene you see is possible.
Also Read:20 Years of Main Hoon Na EXCLUSIVE: Allan Amin says “Shah Rukh Khan was always sure about what he wanted”; also reveals “We put a motor in the cycle rickshaw so that it would go faster”
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