Salman Khan announced that the highly anticipated international action thriller 7 Dogs which will hit theaters in India on August 21. The Moroccan-Belgian filmmaking duo, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, spoke to news agency PTI about their experience of working with the superstar.
They said that the Indian superstar brought his instinctive understanding of cinema to the project and made even brief moments on screen memorable.
The film’s reported budget is nearly $40 million and is among the most expensive films to come out of the Arab region, according to GQ Middle East. The biggest claim to fame, however, is a sequence that has earned 7 Dogs a place in the Guinness World Records. The film features what has been recognised as the largest film stunt explosion, with the blast equivalent to 170.7 tonnes of TNT.
In the film, Salman and fellow Indian star Sanjay Dutt have pivotal roles, besides renowned Italian actor Monica Bellucci and Hollywood’s Giancarlo Esposito. “There’s a lot of charisma. You get the same feeling when Will Smith is on set. It’s like, ‘Oh, that’s what a superstar looks like’. “He knows right away what the scene is. And he will do it perfectly. And then he will create, he will give you so much more. And that is like going to film school. The film has been mounted on an unusually large scale for an Arab-language production. Much of the production was filmed at Al-Hosn Big Time Studios in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with the makers putting a strong focus on practical action, stunts and real explosions. The feat surpassed the previous record associated with the James Bond films Spectre and No Time to Die.
Adil said Salman brought the kind of effortless charisma to the sets, reminding him of Hollywood star Will Smith, the lead actor of “Bad Boys” film franchise. From the moment you put the camera on him, something magical happens,” said Adil. You’re really witnessing cinema happening before your eyes,” he said. Bilall said the superstar’s contribution went beyond the screenplay as he often came up with one-liners during the shoot.
