Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; November 5, 2016)

The trailer of Force 2 may involve high-voltage stunts, the perfect fix for action junkies, but director Abhinay Deo tells us it is a few notches below what was originally planned. Exactly a year ago, John Abraham’s knee injury on set forced him to undergo surgery and got Deo worried about both, his well-being and completing the film’s shoot in time.

Says Deo, “He had to kick open a door for a scene, but hit it too hard and hurt himself. Initially, we thought it wasn’t too serious, but soon, it became a cause of concern. John started developing blood clots and we rushed him to a hospital [in Budapest] where things were taken care of. We commenced filming soon after, but it just made things worse.”

John had to be taken to the hospital again, where a minor surgery was performed on his knee. “I was really scared for John. I was also worried about how we would shoot the remaining action sequences. So, we decided to tone it down; we didn’t want to take any more chances,” adds Deo.

With John on rest for almost two weeks, shooting came to a grinding halt. “But, he recovered quite fast. Once he was back on the sets, he was raring to go. After undergoing three surgeries, I thought it would be difficult for him to do action scenes, but he pulled it off effortlessly, like nothing had happened,” Deo recalls.