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Twenty years ago, action director Allan Amin unleashed a new era in Indian action cinema with heart-thumping, eye-popping stunts in Main Hoon Na. Starring Shah Rukh Khan, the 2004 film, directed by Farah Khan was ground-breaking in many ways as the action flick, peppered with humour, romance and great music, continues to be loved even 20 years later. Allan responsible for the innovative and exciting fight scenes, recently shared his firsthand experience of directing Shah Rukh, shedding light on the making of the superstar’s adrenaline-fuelled, helicopter-swinging, rickshaw-riding, bomb-dodging performance.
Zayed Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in a still from Main Hoon Na. (Photo: Red Chillies Entertainment/YouTube)
Allan, who worked on the action sequence of Dhoom, Dus, Dhoom 2, etc and had earlier collaborated with SRK on Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani and Dil Se (1998), in an interview with Bollywood Hungama, revealed that it was he who introduced cables while shooting action scenes in Bollywood, adding that he first used a cable in Hrithik Roshan‘s Mission Kashmir. Speaking of SRK’s never-seen-before, cutting-edge fight sequences in Main Hoon Na, Allan recalled, “He was always sure about what he wanted. Then I made it simpler and doable. Main Hoon Na was the first film in which we brought deep freeze…it was a 180-degree camerawork. It was used in the cycle rickshaw scene.” He added that using cables on SRK made it both easy to shoot and get the desired result.
Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan recreate Main Hoon Na. (Photo: Farah Khan/Instagram)
Allan, who also worked on Kaal, while reminiscing the shoot of the most challenging scene — the climax — in Main Hoon Na where SRK’s character, Ram had to run while the building behind him was exploding, revealed, “We first made SRK run and then we conducted the explosion. In the post-production, both were merged. You can’t have an actor up there during an explosion,” he said, adding that the team had to time it well. Despite the film being filled with action and fight scenes, there weren’t any injuries.
Shah Rukh Khan and Sushmita Sen in a still from Main Hoon Na.
Farah made her debut as a director with Main Hoon and nailed it. The film received commercial success and went on to become a pop culture phenomenon in the years to come. On his experience of working with the Tees Maar Khan director, Allan, added, “She thinks total masala! It was good fun collaborating with her.”
The action director received positive feedback for his work in Main Hoon Na, which also starred Zayed Khan, Sushmita Sen, Naseeruddin Shah, Amrita Rao and Suniel Shetty among others. “A lot of journalists came forward to interview me. They wanted to know how I did it, how it was possible to do it. Everyone was mesmerised by the action and wanted to find out more about it. Even the reviews were positive,” said Allan, adding that the success of the film helped him grow in the industry. “I became much bigger than what I was because I pulled off such major action sequences in the film. Hence, it turned out to be a boon for my career,” he commented.
Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Main Hoon Na marked the directorial debut of Farah Khan. (Photo: IMDb, screengrab)
While Allan praised SRK for nailing the adrenaline-pumping action scenes in Pathaan and Jawan, he highlighted that the result was achieved using special effects unlike in Main Hoon Na. “In Main Hoon Na, he did action for real. We put him on cable, and we hung him from the helicopter. We made him do all those things. In Pathaan and Jawan, it’s all done against the green screen. Hence, the impact is not that much,” he expressed.
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