Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif compares the filming of Bang Bang!, a testosterone-charged thriller and the official remake of Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz’s blockbuster Knight and Day, to an obstacle race.
“It’s been a long journey... In these two and a half years, there has been Hrithik’s injury, there was a terrorist attack in Kashmir [one of their shooting locations], we had to cancel that... It’s been a bit unpredictable. But the final outcome is something we are happy with,” said Kaif in an interview with tabloid!.
Directed by Siddharth Anand, its slick trailer shows two of Bollywood’s finest looking actors romancing, dodging bullets and speeding around in muscle cars with aplomb.
“It’s a film which has stupendous action. But behind that there’s a turbulent love story. I hope the combination works because when done right, it can really work,” said Kaif. She plays Harleen Sahni, a banker from Shimla.
“In the trailers, you are seeing me in this fun, glamorous role. But Harleen is a simple girl. She has not travelled the world and has never had a boyfriend... When she meets Hrithik’s character she is blown away by him. She’s awestruck and later realises that he’s an unpredictable criminal. He takes her on this journey against her will. And then it shows how they fall in love, the betrayal,” said Kaif.
It’s touted as one of Bollywood’s biggest movies to be rolled out this year. Shot in various locations such as Abu Dhabi (Kaif describes it as the most “beautiful and peaceful place to work”), Prague, Greece and India, the scale isn’t mellow.
But at a time when Bollywood actors feverishly market their films by embarking on national and international press junkets, the Bang Bang! stars have kept a relatively low-profile — not plugging their film on prime-time TV shows, for example.
“I am completely comfortable with it. It is the call of the producers and our marketing team. I don’t think there is a stipulation that everyone has to do the same kind of promotion for films. We should explore and experiment the possibility of not aggressively promoting the film so much. Let the content of the film speak for itself,” said Kaif.
