10 Years of Kick: DOP Ayananka Bose reveals that Salman Khan’s ICONIC train scene was executed without VFX: “Sajid Nadiadwala was most worried about the safety of Salman sir”

One of the most loved films of Salman Khan, Kick (2014), was released 10 years ago, on July 25. A few months after its release, the makers of the film released a special coffee table book ‘Kick: A Karizmatic Journey’. It consists of not just rare BTS images but also some fascinating trivia. At the very start, the book informs readers about the iconic shot of Salman Khan walking coolly on a track though he is inches away from the train.

10 Years of Kick: DOP Ayananka Bose reveals that Salman Khan’s ICONIC train scene was executed without VFX: “Sajid Nadiadwala was most worried about the safety of Salman sir”

As per cinematographer Ayananka Bose’s quotes in the book, it was executed without VFX. He began by saying, “The ironic part of this iconic sequence is that it was never a part of the original plan.”

He explained, “Mr Khan was supposed to ride across the tracks on the cycle but just before he was about to perform the shot, he came up with the idea that he would dismount the cycle, push it ahead and just walk across the tracks nonchalantly without even looking at the train which was a fraction of an inch away from him.”

Ayananka Bose continued, “Initially, Sajid sir (producer-director Sajid Nadiadwala) was not sure as to how this sequence would look but since this shot was up for filming close to sunset and the crew was losing light drastically, he asked the team to film both the options – first what Salman had suggested and second being the original idea of cycling across the tracks.”

The acclaimed DOP then said, “It sounded impossible to place a camera on the path of an oncoming train without the help of VFX for such a sequence. That is when we decided to dig a hole and place it right in the middle of the tracks onto the path of the train. In those failing light conditions, the crew worked frantically including Sajid sir, who was most worried about the safety of Salman sir. With the failing light conditions, it was a one-shot ‘now or never’ moment.”

He further stated, “What followed was history. Once the walk across the track was filmed, the original idea was never filmed.”

Another famous action scene in the film is when Devil (Salman Khan) escapes in the famous London double-decker bus. Interestingly, the scene was not shot in the British capital but far away in Warsaw, Poland.

On this, Sajid Nadiadwala said, “The Red Buses had a great journey because we started from London, then Glasgow and then Warsaw. Thank god, we got permission to shoot in Warsaw. Otherwise, we would have to shoot in Bangkok or Hong Kong. We put both buses on trucks to transport them from the UK to Poland as they were not allowed to drive on the highway.”