At its heart, Vikram Vedha is a story of morals, of the fine line that divides good and evil. The most interesting character then is Vedha, a dreaded gangster who had his own reasons to turn to a life of crime. When Hrithik Roshan came on board as the antagonist to Saif Ali Khan’s cop character, the actor had to take extensive weapon training to do justice to the role.

In keeping with the noir thriller’s mood, writer-director duo Pushkar-Gayathri wanted the action sequences to be gritty. Action director Parvez Shaikh and his team worked closely with Roshan for the stunts, particularly two elaborate sequences.

A source reveals, “In the film, there are several gang wars and gun fights, leading to the final face-off between Saif and Hrithik’s characters. Hrithik shot a major portion of the action scenes in the back-lot of Khalifa Industrial Zone in Abu Dhabi, on a set that resembled the streets of Lucknow and Kanpur. One sequence, which sees him wielding a sword, came easy to the actor as he had previously trained in sword-fighting for Jodhaa Akbar [2008]. However, he had to train for almost three weeks before he shot the remaining two set-pieces. While one sees him in a hand-to-hand combat with Saif, the other has him taking on an entire gang single-handedly with a pistol and an AK-47. Since Hrithik knew how to operate a pistol, the focus was on making him adept at handling the rifle.”

The director duo, who had helmed the 2017 Tamil original of the same name, believe it will be a treat to see Roshan in a ruthless avatar. “Vedha starts off as an amateur, and develops into a gangster who is feared by all. Hrithik learnt the finer details of handling multiple kinds of weaponry. As Vedha grows [older], the weapons he uses get an upgrade too,” explains Pushkar.

Gayathri adds, “The attraction for us, as directors, is the way Hrithik emotes through his eyes. There can be a lot going on in the frame, but when Hrithik acts, his eyes speak louder than words.”