Known for his jaw-dropping stunts and unprecedented moves, action star Vidyut Jammwal took his daredevilry to the next level with upcoming family action adventure Junglee. The actor, who shares the screen with magnificent elephants in the film, shook crew members when he pulled off an extremely daunting scene with his sheer presence of mind and core instincts.
In one of the scenes of the film, Vidyut’s character was supposed to run with his tusker friends that required him to run in front with Bhola, the majestic tusker, and the rest of the herd was supposed to follow the two. However, things were not going as planned. Since elephants run at their own pace and don’t necessarily follow the straight line required for the camera, Vidyut was getting pushed out of the frame.
After two takes with a similar outcome, for the third take, Vidyut decided to run through the herd instead of catching up with them from the side. This required him to run at a very calculated speed in order to manoeuvre around the herd.
Vidyut says, “The scene originally had me running alongside Bhola and the other elephants but it wasn’t working because they don’t run in a straight line. After a few takes, I knew that to make this work, I had to run between them. I just took the plunge without thinking about the danger I was putting myself in. In that moment, I felt like the world around me was closing in on me. All I did was follow my core instinct and focus everything on finding my way to the other side.”
This high-risk scene was too dangerous to pull off with this ease, especially when the magnificent giants are on the run. It left the whole crew awestruck!
He explains, “Elephants are just incredible creatures and when they run in herds, nothing can stand in their way. I was guided by my heartbeat and the sound pattern created by the herd as they ran. As I closed in, I saw a narrow space between two elephants and slid my way through, and that’s how we got that shot.”
The family adventure Junglee now releases on March 29
