With Akshay Kumar's character shown as Mumbai cop, Sooryavanshi director Rohit Shetty discusses how local police helped him shoot at iconic locations in the city
Akshay Kumar in Sooryavanshi
After giving Bollywood formidable cop heroes in Bajirao Singham and Sangram Bhalerao aka Simmba, filmmaker Rohit Shetty has gone bigger and better with his next, Sooryavanshi. The cop thriller sees Akshay Kumar at the helm of affairs as Anti-Terrorist squad chief DCP Veer Sooryavanshi.
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While Shetty has been vocal about how he loves shooting in Goa — he had set the stories of both Singham and Simmba in the state — the script of Sooryavanshi required him to film extensively in Mumbai. No stranger to the woes of shooting at live locations, the director says Mumbai police made it possible to film at landmark venues like the Lower Parel flyover and the Bandra-Worli Sea Link.
The shot of the police convoy at the Lower Parel flyover
"We were shooting at night at the Lower Parel bridge. I wanted a beautiful shot of the police convoy on the flyover, but [it's usually bustling with traffic]," recounts Shetty, adding that after the unit secured the requisite permission from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the cops cordoned off the area for the shoot. "It was amazing to see how the cops managed the crowd that had gathered there. It's a crowded area, and if they hadn't been with us, it would have been impossible for us to shoot."
Rohit Shetty
One might believe he has become well-versed with the world of khaki-clad heroes after helming three cop capers. But Shetty says he closely interacts with cops while developing the script to ensure there are no glaring errors in the representation of police procedure. "Before shooting for Sooryavanshi, we met some cops. They helped us determine the uniforms that each character would wear [corresponding to their designation], or the process that ATS follows [before an arrest]. They helped us with the research, following which we took it forward and fictionalised it."
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