Expensive action sequences to be shot for ‘Agent Vinod’

MUMBAI - Producer Saif Ali Khan has asked his “Agent Vinod” director Sriram Raghavan to shoot three very expensive action sequences.

I will have only three action sequences. But I won’t compromise on quality. I’ve spent considerable time writing the action sequences into the script. Now comes their execution, Sriram said.

The next schedule of “Agent Vinod” is in March 2011.

There are three big action sequences still to be shot. They require major prepping.I want to plan them out and shoot them on priority. There was no point going into another schedule without the required budget. We now have that in place for March. These sequences are VFX heavy and it’s better to do them first before I do my balance scenes. We’ve shot about an hour of footage already, he added.

Sriram still hopes to release the film towards the end of next year.

Both Saif and Kareena would have to be trained before we do the remaining action sequences, Sriram said.

Making an action film as slick as its counterparts in Hollywood is not easy. Two of the pending action sequences would be shot in the UAE, far away from the country where they are located in the script, to economize on the rapidly spiraling budget.

Sriram admits he has been asked to keep costs down. I need to keep a quality check while making sure we don’t go over-budget. There are three big action sequences to be shot. And yes, you’ve heard right. Two of them might be shot in the same location. For one of them I need choppers flying in the night. In India we aren’t allowed choppers at night. So we’ll have to shoot in the UAE.

Sriram, who has already edited 65 minutes of footage for “Agent Vinod”, needs to shoot a very stylish prologue to go with the opening titles, and an epilogue which requires four days of shooting in Britain.

Would the prologue be as as stylish as the ones in the James Bond flicks?

Laughs Sriram: I wish! But we don’t have that kind of budget.

Kareena Kapoor has been telling the world that she has no heavyduty action sequences to perform with Saif in “Agent Vinod”.

The fact is, she has not one, but two very stylish and complex action sequences in “Agent Vinod”. For this she needs to undergo some amount of training. Apparently these sequences have been postponed until she finds the time to train, and until the budget permits them to be shot.

If preparedness is all, then “Agent Vinod” is not all there. Not yet.