BACKSTAGE PASS - Sunny is like an Indian Sylvester Stallone
Roshmila Bhattacharya, Mumbai Mirror | Mar 25, 2015, 12.00AM IST
Mirror peeks into the magic factory and introduces you to the wizards who craft your favourite silver screen moments. Dan Bradley, the second unit director of big-ticket Hollywood franchises like the Bourne Identity series, Spider-Man 2 and 3, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Expendables 3, Quantum of Solace and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol met Sunny Deol in Los Angeles last year.Sunny wanted to bring a realistic edge to the action of Ghayal Once Again which he is also directing and producing. Dan was easily persuaded to fly down to India and design the stunts for the sequel which opens this Diwali. "India is the most prolific film industry in the world and this was a great opportunity for film tourism. How could I say no?" he smiles.
The big-built American admits that walking down the streets of Mumbai with Sunny Deol was like walking the streets of Los Angeles with Brad Pitt. "People here just love him. I've travelled across 80 countries but never come across a city with such passion for cinema.There are so many posters around," he marvels. For Dan, Ghayal Once More is on the lines of a Bond or Bourne film as the focus is as much on action as it is on people, relationships and emotions. There is one action scene that Dan has canned which he would like to replicate in a Hollywood film. It came after spending a few weeks in Mumbai and struggling to get through the traffic. "Looking at all those cars packed in together made me wonder what it would be like to have Sunny being chased through the traffic, bouncing off cars, vehicles stopping within inches of his head, then jumping into a train packed with people hanging out. I insisted on shooting with real commuters even though I had to keep a close watch to make sure no one was over-acting in the background," he chuckles.
Dan remembers coming to India earlier to shoot an action sequence for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. "It was an impossible task because at any point there were 10,000 onlookers. I finally took the shots between 2 am and 4.30 am when the crowd tired out went home and catch some sleep," he says. This time it took four days and despite the crowds and the traffic, Dan got a sequence worthy of a Bond or a Bourne film.
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