Siddharth Anand’s constant innovation: From a chase scene in Arctic Circle to using a car as a character

By Rajiv Vijayakar -

February 27, 2024 - 1:42 PM IST

While the film has done decent business, what stands out with Fighter is the fact that it is India’s first aerial action film. For director-co-writer Siddharth Anand, it is all about innovation—a feature in all his films as we shall see—and giving the audience something they had never seen before in Indian cinema. The stars were actually taught by real Air-Force personnel to fly a plane and navigate a chopper. The filming techniques and VFX needed were also new for Hindi cinema as per the needs of the subject.

Siddharth Anand’s constant innovation: From a chase scene in Arctic Circle to using a car as a character

Siddharth, son of producer Bittu Anand (Shahenshah, Main Azaad Hoon) and grandson of the legendary writer, Inder Raj Anand, whose work spanned over four decades of blockbusters including C.I.D., Sangam, Haathi Mere Saathi and Ek Duuje Ke Liye) has a passion for such new aspects in all his films, right from his debut directorial, Salaam Namaste, which released way back in 2005.

Salaam Namaste (2005)

This was the first Indian film to be shot entirely in Australia and tackled live-in relationships complete with a pregnancy. For its innovative content, the script of the film, also the biggest Indian hit that year in the international market, was invited to be included in USA’s Margaret Herrick Library, which is operated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007)

Many ARCA Re (Automobile Racing Club of America, a Midwest-based sanctioning body for stock car auto-racing) drivers participated in the filming of the racing sequences in Ta Ra Rum Pum. The title song, which was part-animation, was performed by Walt Disney Studios as part of their 3-film deal with Yash Raj Films, which produced Siddharth’s first three directorials, apart from Pathaan later.

Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008)

For the first time, technology was used to re-create a vintage hit with the original voice samples for the title-song. The original song, composed by R.D, Burman for Hum Kisise Kum Naheen in 1977 and rendered by Kishore Kumar for Rishi Kapoor, was re-created with Kishore’s son, Sumeet Kumar, singing for Rishi’s son, Ranbir Kapoor. And Kishore thus also came to lip-sync even for Ranbir! Such sampling with the original voice included has subsequently been used in Queen, Fukrey 2 and others.

Anjaana Anjaani (2010)

Blush, a car shown to be driven by Priyanka Chopra, was described by the director as the film’s third lead character. A red 1963 Ford Falcon Sprint was purchased especially for the film and art directors Ian Salter and Nell Tivnan redesigned the car’s interior with minute details to suit the heroine’s character!

Bang Bang! (2014)

Siddharth did not want a routine bike chase. So Hrithik Roshan agreed to perform a stunt where he had to use a water jetpack, go 45 feet high and then dive down into water. This sport is called Flyboarding and Hrithik became the first actor in the world to do such a stunt. He was, however, injured during this and had to undergo a brain surgery for removal of a blood clot from his brain, which led to a long delay. As Siddharth quipped in front of his actor recently, “The result was literally mind-blowing!”

War (2019)

Again, Siddharth did not want a routine car chase, and so he chose to film it in snow—in the Arctic Circle! This was the first Indian film to be shot there. Said Siddharth, “We wanted to push the benchmark of action movies made in India.” Andy R. Armstrong from Hollywood and SeaYoung Oh from South Korea, choreographed the car chase, which was a complete novelty.

Pathaan (2023)

This film is the first Indian movie to be shot in Lake Baikal in Siberia.

Clearly, Siddharth believes that audiences need something new each time.

Also Read: Siddharth Anand’s Fighter gets standing ovation from IAF officers in New Delhi