Every action entertainer is looking to up the level of stunts in the film, to make it look visually spectacular. The latest is that the makers of Saaho, which is an action-thriller, roped in five stunt designers for the high-octane sequences involving Prabhas, who returns to the screen two years after Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.  

A source close to the makers says, “We had internally discussed and decided to have multiple stunt directors for different sequences in the film to avoid repetition and have a completely different experience in each of the scenes. There is a chase sequence, hand-to-hand combat, an indoor fight, and a full-blown war kind of encounter. Each one of them has been separately choreographed by world-renowned action directors who have worked on Hollywood movies.”

There is Kenny Bates, who has worked on films such as Die Hard and Transformers, Peng Zhang is known for movies like Rush Hour, Bob Brown who has choreographed stunts for Se7en, Iron Man and xXx: Return of Xander Cage among others, Indian action director Dhilip Subbarayan and Stuntman Silva, who have been associated with South cinema.

A source further reveals, “Kenny choreographed the Rs 70-crore chase sequence in Abu Dhabi and the core of climax, which is an important part of the film. The makers had especially briefed Peng for a larger-than-life introductory action scene of Prabhas and the fight sequence in the climax of the film alongside the gunfight in Europe. Bob has helped direct a huge gun battle based in the continent, too, while Dhilip has helmed the intriguing castle fight there wherein the locker falls down. Stunt Silva is responsible for the Mumbai traffic scuffle and the Europe resort encounter while Ram Laxman has directed the Lal Bungalow confrontation scene.”  

The source adds that the expensive Abu Dhabi hunt sequence has turned out so well that Kenny has requested for its showreel to include in his portfolio as he believes this is one of his career’s best works.