Mumbai: The Gerard Butler and Ali Fazal starrer Hollywood action-spy thriller movie, Kandahar has various action sequences featuring a lot of elaborate stunt work. Ali had many stunt scenes and one of these stunts turned out to be a very difficult one, which surprisingly was his opening shot.
Explaining the shooting of the stunt, Ali Fazal said: “So while shooting Kandahar I remember shooting one of the most difficult scenes and I suppose the most iconic shot for me was my entry. A very cool chopper flying over a sea bed. And just before it lands I open the door and I have to jump out, get into a running van. And we scoot off. And then the van goes into the valley, I get on a bike. The van stops and the back door is opened and the bike is there and then I have to ride off on the bike. But the declining railing, I had to get off while taking a turn on off a moving bike on the sand and then rush off in the opposite direction.”
He further mentioned: “And that was probably one of the hardest shots I’d been part of in the film. Because it was all so back to back, keeping a straight path on a moving bike on sand was the toughest because I was constantly trying to maneuver, but trying to keep my balance and keep the bike steady because the sand is like in waves. So these things were really cool. On the big screen it just looks beautiful and I’m happy with the way it turned out.”
A major Hollywood production made on an estimated budget of $70 million, the film stars Gerard Butler, Travis Fimmel, Ali Fazal, Tom Rhye Harries, Farhad Bageri, Olivia-Mai Barret and Navid Nagahban.
The movie is directed by Ric Roman Waugh and released May 26, 2023 receiving mixed reviews. Ali Fazal played the character of the villainous Pakistani agent and Taliban ally Kahil Nasil in the movie.