Sanjay Dutt is all excited about KGF Chapter 2 which is scheduled to release on April 14, three years since the first part came out. The film marks the Kannada debut of the Bollywood star which sees him in a never-seen-before avatar as Adheera. Playing an antagonist in the film, the actor is set to lock horns with Kannada superstar Yash.
Dutt says that Adheera is one of the craziest characters that he has played played so far. “He is fearless, powerful and ruthless. So we wanted this character to look something which is out of this world. So along with Prashanth (Neel, the director), I decided on this look and it came down to clothes which was heavy armour almost weighing 25 kilograms. And we were shooting in heat and some really hostile terrain but the entire team was really focused on making a good film,” he told News18.
The actor adds that there was a lot of physical prep required to for the character. “We would take about a hour and half to do the makeup for the look. Apart from that, there was a lot of mental preparation required to get into the skin of the character. The character required a lot from me in terms of these attributes. Every character has its own journey, I enjoyed playing characters of this shade.”
Dutt was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2020. The climax of film had yet to be shot and the producers of KGF 2 wanted him to shoot the heavy-duty action sequences of the film in front of a green screen so that he doesn’t exert himself. The actor tells us that he refused the idea.
“The team was concerned about my health but I had clearly told them that if they don’t shoot the climax the way it was narrated to me, I was not going to shoot for it,” he said, adding that the team did everything they could to make him comfortable.
“We had a grand vision for it. The climax had to be mounted on a large scale. It was a difficult climax as there was mud, dust, fire and a lot of action. When we started shooting, for the first few hours they were a little wary but after a few takes even they got confident and felt that I could do it. That, mentally, was a big win situation for all of us.”
The Munnabhai: MBBS actor trained for months for the role and also gave strict instructions to the film’s unit that he would be shooting his own sequences sans a body double. Ask the 62-year-old actor whether it ever got difficult to perform some grueling action sequences in the film and he says, “My body never gives up nor will it ever give up. Action is something that I have grown watching and have been performing for almost five decades now. I came in as an action hero and it will always remain a part of me. For me doing slice of life films is difficult (Laughs). Age is just a number for me. At the same time, I am aware that I have to move on with the times and I should play parts according to my age which I am doing.”
