The Abu Dhabi shoot of the Bollywood film Dishoom has been pushed back to February.
The delay is reportedly due to star John Abraham injuring his knee on the set of Force 2 in Budapest. Abraham damaged his knee during a scene in which he had to break a door. The blood clots that had developed as a result of the injury have now been removed.
As well as those films, the ever busy Abraham is also working on Hera Pheri 3. He states the recent hiccup has resulted in a reorganisation of shoots.
"None of the schedules have been scrapped", the 42-year-old told the Mumbai Mirror. "We've simply swapped the action-heavy sequences for dialogue shots."
The close-up, dialogue-heavy parts of Dishoom will be shot in Mumbai next month.
“The action sequences, which were meant to be shot in Abu Dhabi, UAE, have been postponed,” an insider told Bollywood.com. “This will give John enough time to recover. The action scenes will be filmed later, when John is completely fine.”
Abraham was reportedly due to arrive in Abu Dhabi on today, October 24 for a five-week shoot. As revealed by The National earlier this month, the cast, including Varun Dhawan and Jacqueline Fernandez, were scheduled to film at 40 locations around the city, including the Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi hotel.
Shah Rukh Khan came out in support of Abraham. The Bollywood superstar advised Abraham not to rush through his rehab and strictly follow his physiotherapy and diet routine, which was conveyed to Khan by Dhawan.
Abraham reassured his fans that he will be heeding the advice. “I haven’t cheated on my diet even once in the last nine years and all my check-ups and tests are up-to-date,” he said.
Abraham said his accident, which he described as having his knee swell to “the size of a watermelon”, will not make him shy away from the action.
"If anything, it will bring the adrenalin rushing once I am back on the sets ― stronger, fitter, faster," he stated. "On December 4, I will go to China for Force 2 as planned and I won't use a body double for the death-defying action. I can't. People get paid to jump off buildings, I'm doing it for free and enjoying every moment. Like a tiger who has tasted blood, I'm a man-eater on the prowl."
artslife@thenational.ae
