Not My Age to Do Action: Big B on “Thugs of Hindostan” Stunts
Amitabh Bachchan during the trailer launch of movie ‘Thugs of Hindostan,’ in Mumbai, Sept. 27. (Shashank Parade/PTI)
Amitabh Bachchan said, Sept. 27, he broke several bones shooting for action sequences in “Thugs of Hindostan,” but he went with the flow to honor director Vijay Krishna Acharya’s wishes.
In March, his “Thugs” co-star Aamir Khan revealed that the megastar had suffered a shoulder and back injury.
“It is not my age to do all this but our director asked us to do so I did it. There is no part of the body that has not been broken and there is no doctor that I haven’t met. There is not much improvement,” Bachchan, 75, told reporters.
He was speaking at the trailer launch of “Thugs of Hindostan.”
The actor added shooting the action sequences in rains added to his woes.
“Had they made me wear normal clothes, it would have been easier but I was made to wear armor. They made me wear leather clothes and it was so heavy, it was about 30-40 kg, then they gave me a sword, turban and long hair.
“It took three hours for me to get ready. The most dangerous part was all the action sequences were shot in rains due to which the clothes got all the more heavy,” he added.
Contrary to popular view, Bachchan believes technological advancement has made the job of an actor more difficult.
“After technology has become advanced, people rather look more into detailing. We have to work harder. Don’t think because of technology our work has become easy.
“To some extent visually, it has become a lot more presentable. But in the old days, we chose large locations, shot at the location and everything was done immediately.”
There were reports that “Thugs…” is based on Philip Meadows Taylor’s 1839 novel “Confessions of a Thug.” The film was also compared to Hollywood blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean” series.
Acharya rubbished the rumors, saying, “It is not based on any novel. It is a called ‘Thugs..’ so maybe people felt it is related to a book that came on thugs. But it is not. Whenever we have made period films, we have made it very reverential.
“I felt maybe we make a little irrelevant film in which there is a character who is not noble and that might be interesting. It is hard to get people come to theatres and they might come in if there is some spectacle.”
On comparisons “Pirates of Carribean,” Aamir said, “It is an action-adventure film so in that case the genre is similar to ‘Pirates…’. But story-wise, there is no similarity between the two films.”