Chandu Champion Director Kabir Khan Calls This Kind Of Action Movies 'Item Numbers'

Kabir Khan is basking in the success of his latest outing Chandu Champion. The film is headlined by Kartik Aaryan and narrates the life of India's first Paralympic gold medalist Murlikant Petkar. Days after the release of the movie, the director spoke about the eight-minute-long continuous action scene in the film. The maker who has helmed movies like Ek Tha Tiger, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and 83, spoke about the importance of action in the films. 

Kabir Khan talks about putting action in movies just for the sake of it 

Kabir Khan spoke about having pulled off a pivotal eight-minute-long continuous war sequence in his latest Chandu Champion. The much-talked-about shot highlights the "emotional drama" of the story instead of showing action for the sake of it, said Khan, adding that they shot it at 9,000 feet above sea level in Kashmir's Aru Valley. After four days of rehearsal, the section was filmed in one day which featured fighter jets, bomb blasts, and intense combat scenes.

"I have always believed and have done that even in my earlier action films that action for the sake of action never really works, then it's an item number. Action works when the emotional drama and arc of the story moves forward with the action.” He added, "The start of the action and the end of the action has to move and that in this film is huge. It's one of the most pivotal points in the plot.” 

Kabir Khan says he shot action sequence in Chandu Champion in one shot 

Kabir Khan, known for directing Ek Tha Tiger, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, 83 and Kabul Express earlier, said the underlying reason for shooting the eight-minute uncut sequence was to stay close to his protagonist and experience the events unfold through his eyes. He told PTI, "We are so used to doing things in films that if it's not happening, take two or take three or take four, and we can keep achieving. Here, we had no take two. It was only one take and we had to get it correct because a lot of big structures were going to crumble and fall and you cannot set it up all over again.”

"On top of that, we were shooting on location in Kashmir at a very high altitude. Carrying people and equipment up there and training them for several days before attempting the single take was quite a task," the 55-year-old added. Chandu Champion is Khan's first directorial venture since 83, which was released during the peak of the third wave of the pandemic on December 24, 2021. Fronted by Ranveer Singh, the film was based on the Indian men's cricket team's first World Cup win. 
(With inputs from PTI)