South Indian remakes are pass ufffd; it's South Indian action sequences that are the new rage. Not everybody agrees but where's the fun without a good fight, eh?

The kick

South Indian remakes are passe; it's South Indian action sequences that are the new rage. Not everybody agrees but where's the fun without a good fight, eh?

A Tamil film titled Thirupachi, that released in 2005 with Vijay, a South Indian idol who, dare we say it, is being touted as the next Rajini, in the lead. It features a stunt that only Salman Khan can possibly pull off. Vijay goes about his business bashing up the bad guy, and in a fit of inexplicable rage twists the villain's arm, breaking every bone in it.

Just in case the audience didn't believe this was possible, the director or perhaps the cinematographer or stunt director, took a wise creative call on the shot. An X-ray image of the wretched man's arm showing the broken bones surprises you bang in the middle of a fight sequence. Of course, any self-respecting action buff will agree that this is the thrill that completes his cinema hall experience.

Even as trade analysts declare recent Salman Khan-starrer Dabangg one of the biggest hits of the year, action director S Vijayan explains how he works: "Emotion should be coated with technique. But while Vijayan has killed a lot of people (in reel life, of course), he has not repeated his style in any film."

If you've watched Dabangg, or Wanted directed by Prabhu Deva, you'd realise that Vijayan is true to his word. His fights are as entertaining as his third-person references. Martial arts trainer Chitah Yajness Shhetty who runs a fight academy in suburban Mumbai, points out that the appeal for over-the-top South Indian film style fight sequences is growing. "This is because the fights down South impact the audience. It's what video games are to teenagers. Now, everybody wants to make a Dabangg."

Of course, the biggest difference lies in the fact that Dabangg is an original, and its director Abhinav Kashyap is quick to underline this. "I wasn't looking for a South Indian sensibility when I made Dabangg. There was no analytical reason for choosing Vijayan except that he had worked with Salman earlier, and there was a comfort level that the two shared."

Comedy-action formula
Stunt master Abbas Ali Mogul who champions realistic fighting techniques has worked on the recent Ajay Devgn-starrer Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai. He believes heroes are keen to sign on comedy-action films. Mogul adds that the fight scenes in Dabangg could have been carried off only by Salman. "When Salman wasn't on screen even for a minute, you got bored. He shouldered the film," says Mogul.

While Mogul's opinion is up for debate, Khan has signed on a South Indian remake with Deepika Padukone as the female lead. This time, it's a Telugu blockbuster titled, Kick, that producer Sajid Nadiadwala is betting his money on. "People in Bollywood are squabbling to get the rights for the next Surya-AR Murugadoss film," Shhetty says. That's not surprising, considering Ghajini was the biggest grosser of 2008. Vijayan traces the trend of comedy-action back to Jackie Chan. "Chan uses a lot of Kung Fu.

I have tried to incorporate Kalaripayattu (a traditional martial art form of Kerala) and Kung Fu." In the case of the latest Rajinikanth blockbuster Endhiran (Robot), a series of fighting techniques were mashed up, says Yannick Ben, a French stunt professional who worked in the team led by Peter Haynes. "We wanted it to look more real and the only way to do that was to try free-style and a mixed martial arts form. If you look at any street fight, it's nasty, it's not Karate or Kung Fu or any particular form, and that's the effect we wanted."