Ravi Yadav, who was the cinematographer of Abhay Deol's debut film, Socha Na Tha, did a 100 day recce in Mumbai, looking for suitable locations for the Ghayal sequel, which arrives 25 years after the original. “Sunny wanted the film to look grand without compromising on the believability factor or emotions. We've shot some great action sequences in real locations with at least 10 cameras to cover every possible angle,“ says Ravi.

He recalls Sunny's brief to him which stressed that the action sequences shouldn't look dated. “So besides action director Dan Bradley's expertise, we used several modern equipments, including a different crane, for mid-air shots,“ informs the DoP.  He adds that the makers had taken special permission from the Ministry of Defence to shoot an aerial sequence of the Maximum City. A technician from New Zealand was summoned for it, and he used the nose mount technique with the help of a helicopter to film without any vibrations or jerks in the sky. There is also a 12-minute-long chase sequence that has Sunny running through streets, malls and railway stations. “The entire story of Ghayal Once Again unveils in a day, so the lighting had to be bang on. For an outdoor afternoon scene, we'd wait till that right time before shooting it,“ explains Ravi, adding that they took 35 days to film an action sequence in two malls in Central Mumbai. “And we have captured every street from Bandra to town,“ he laughs.

The script required a 50-storeyed building at Worli Sea-Face but since there was none, they created one with the help of VFX. “The interior was a large set in Kamalistan, and the rooftop, another set in Madh Island. However, we have kept the sets to the minimal and mostly shot in real locations,“ he informs, admitting that it was easy to get permissions to shoot at these locations but managing the crowds wasn't. “Sometimes Sunny himself had to intervene and request people to move away from the frame. Most, though, were removed digitally,“ he confides, adding that Sunny was always ready to re-shoot if the footage wasn't satisfactory.