It's going to be a face-off between John and Emraan in Mumbai Saga

Emraan Hashmi. Pics/ AFP

Even as director Sanjay Gupta kicked off the second schedule of Mumbai Saga yesterday with Emraan Hashmi, action directors Vikram More and Anbariv are busy designing the fight sequence for the climax. Talking to mid-day, the director reveals that the climax of the actioner - that traces the shutdown of mills in Bombay in the '80s, thus changing the landscape of the city - will see Hashmi take on his on-screen rival John Abraham. "What's the point of bringing two heroes together if they don't have a face-off? I have chalked out several confrontation scenes between the two leads. For the final sequence, we have designed an elaborate action set-piece that will have John and Emraan engage in hand-to-hand combat," says Gupta. Probe him if the two actors play leaders of rival gangs, and he is unusually tight-lipped. "I can't divulge what they play but I can assure you that Mumbai Saga is full of action and one-liners."

The director adds that Hashmi has been devotedly working out to look like a worthy rival to Abraham. "Emraan was shooting for Ezra in Mauritius. He took his trainer along and came back a changed man - all pumped up, broad shoulders and bulked-up arms. He told me, 'Come on, I have to go up against John, it has to look convincing.'"

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