Those of you who missed Mohanlal’s Malayalam film Puli Murugan, last year’s highest Malayalam grosser with a box office collection of Rs1.5 billion (Dh85.4 million), fret not.
The Tamil version is releasing on June 16. And to top it all, it comes in 3D format.
Directed by Vysakh, Puli Murugan was about tribal man Murugan known for his valour and skills in killing a tiger. Hence hailed as a saviour by the villagers.
Peter Heine, who received the Indian National Award for action choreography for Puli Murugan this year, said that 85 per cent of the tiger scenes were shot live.
“Only 15 per cent was graphics,” Heine said.
Heine visited the tiger sanctuaries of Vietnam, Thailand and South Africa’s to study tiger behaviour. The research took him a year and a half.
“I was not only choreographing stunts but doubling up as the cameraman for close shots of the tigers,” he said.
With a cooperative actor like Mohanlal, who was daring to experiment, Heine found it less challenging.
“Lal sir performed many of the feats himself,” he said.
There are scenes in the film where the tiger climbs a tree.
“For this, I had a ball that rattled,” revealed Heine. “When we raised it up the trunk, the curious struck tiger followed it.”
Can a date with a tiger be free of injuries? No way!
During a session with the tiger, it grabbed his leg while chasing him.
“Since I was aware of the technique to free myself, I released its hold. And, all the while I was looking into its eyes. A tiger will attack once you turn your back to it,” Heine said.
R. B. Bala has written the Tamil dialogues for the Tamil version.
Now this will be close encounters of a different kind with a tiger.
