Upala KBR, Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; August 18, 2020)

The past 15 years have witnessed the resurgence of Marathi cinema. Among those leading from the front in the emergence of the new wave was filmmaker Nishikant Kamat. His directorial debut Dombivali Fast (2005) was a biting commentary on how the common man will rarely win against the corrupt system. Where it fetched him the National Award for Best Marathi Feature Film, the drama also compelled the Hindi movie industry to look at Marathi cinema — until then regarded as its poor cousin — as a treasure trove of powerful stories.

Interestingly, Kamat was at the centre of another milestone in Marathi cinema that occurred less than a decade later. His brainchild, Lai Bhaari (2014), which marked the Marathi debut of actor-producer Riteish Deshmukh, was a raging hit at the box-office. In rivalling the earnings of some Bollywood films that year, it redefined the commerce of regional cinema. Perhaps, Kamat had imbibed the importance of box-office figures from the Hindi film industry, having spent over six years in Bollywood by then.

Genelia Deshmukh, who collaborated with the filmmaker on John Abraham-fronted Force (2011), remembers him as a "one-take director". "Nishi would walk you through the entire scene — discussing your expression, the mood of the scene and would ask you to relive an experience that comes closest to the sequence to be shot. Every scene would be preceded by a detailed chat because once he went on the floors, he would shoot the scene in one take. Most of my scenes in Force were filmed in a single take," she recounts.

Where he was analytical and sharp about the work at hand, Deshmukh says he was also deeply emotional. "During the Force shoot, I remember he broke down after we shot the scene where my character dies. He was the kind of person who was deeply invested in every character. Also, I have never seen a director who treated his crew so well. He would tell actors, 'Say what you want to me, but not to my bachchas.'"

While the mystery thriller Drishyam (2015) and Irrfan-fronted Madaari remain some of his best works, director Sudhir Mishra believes Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008) was perhaps his most underrated movie. "He was kind enough to involve me in the making of Mumbai Meri Jaan right from the beginning. I had seen the rough cut and it was easy to see that his outlook towards films was exceptional. He was one of the most underrated filmmakers; it may be because he didn't belong to any Bollywood camps, he did his job quietly."

When not giving instructions to actors, the director would frequently face the camera, playing menacing antagonists to Abraham in Rocky Handsome (2016) and Harshvardhan Kapoor in Bhavesh Joshi Superhero (2018). Arjun Rampal, who shared screen space with him in Daddy (2017), says Kamat enjoyed his stint in front of the camera as much as he did behind it. "During the shoot, he told us, 'I am just an actor here. Bolo, director saab, what do you want me to do?' And he did such a marvellous job in the film!" Rampal considers himself fortunate to be directed by Kamat in a few episodes of his web series, The Final Call. "Before every shot, we used to read out the scene several times over. He would always ask me how I would like to do a particular scene, and place his cameras accordingly."

His Best Works


Dombivali Fast (2005)
Telling the story of a middle-class bank employee whose existence is hinged on the frustration at the hands of law and lawmakers, the film walks us through the systematic breakdown of his mental state and how it turns him into a vigilante.

Evano Oruvan (2007)
Kamat adapted his critically acclaimed Dombivali Fast in Tamil with R Madhavan in the lead, thus proving that powerful stories have a universal appeal.

Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008)
Starring Madhavan, Soha Ali Khan and Irrrfan among others, Mumbai Meri Jaan skillfully took the audience through the aftermath of the 2006 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai.


Force (2011)
The John Abraham and Vidyut Jammwal-starrer is one of the first slick actioners that kickstarted an entire genre of such movies. A remake of Gautham Menon's Kakha Kakha, the film is a revenge saga between a cop and a dreaded gangster.

Lai Bhaari (2014)
Marking Riteish Deshmukh's debut in Marathi films, Lai Bhaari was a runaway hit and changed the face of commerce in regional cinema.

Drishyam (2015)
A remake of a Malayalam film, the Ajay Devgn-starrer is the unofficial adaptation of Kiego Higashino's popular novel.

Madaari (2016)
Starring Irrfan who played a vigilante in the film, Kamat narrated a fictional tale which is inspired by the collapse of the Mumbai metro bridge in 2012.

Avijit Ghosh & Bella Jaisinghani | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; August 18, 2020)

New Delhi/Mumbai: Director Nishikant Kamat, best known as the maker of commended and compelling films such as Dombivli Fast, Mumbai Meri Jaan and Drishyam, breathed his last at a Hyderabad hospital on Monday. He was 50.

Kamat was admitted on July 31. “He was suffering from liver cirrhosis for the past two years ...since yesterday, he developed respiratory failure... eventually leading to multi-organ failure-…at 16:24 hrs he succumbed to his illness,” a press release issued by AIG hospital, Hyderabad, said.

Much earlier in the afternoon, several film personalities had erroneously tweeted the news of his passing away.

As a director, Kamat displayed a sureness of craft, an ability to draw the best out of actors and a felicity with psychological thrillers. He was born in Mumbai, knew its mind and crafted two fascinating portraits of the city, warts and all.

He commanded attention with his edgy award-winning debut venture, Dombivali Fast (2005), chronicling a citizen’s descent to disturbia in a world where the honest and the meek are mocked at, rather than valued and feted. The movie, inspired by Joel Schumacher’s Falling Down, won the national award for best feature film in Marathi, and penciled Kamat as a director to watch out for.

He lived up to the challenge in his debut Hindi feature, Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008), a bittersweet ode to the city that wrapped its arms around the 2006 train blast survivors, their loss and their method of coping. Mumbai Meri Jaan received the Filmfare Critics Award for best movie.

Kamat changed tack thereafter. Force (2011) was a slick action yarn. The director, who also acted in several movies such as Rocky Handsome (2016), also helmed Irrfan Khan’s tense Madaari (2018). In between, he directed Drishyam (2015), a cat and mouse thriller, remade from a Malayalam film of the same name. The movie was a masterclass in mindgames; its ingenious twists and unusual morality choices were loved by the audience, making it a cash counter success.

Actor Riteish Deshmukh who starred in his Marathi film Lai Bhaari tweeted: “I will miss you my friend Nishikant Kamat. Rest in peace.”

Actor Ajay Devgn, who featured in Drishyam, took to Twitter too to post: “My equation with Nishikant was not just about Drishyam, a film which he directed with Tabu and me. It was an association that I cherished. He was bright; ever-smiling. He has gone too soon. RIP Nishikant.”

John Abraham had worked with Kamat in Force and Rocky Handsome. He posted photos with his director and wrote, “Will not get over this.... Rest In Peace.”

Film director Ashutosh Gowarikar posted: “You’ve gone too soon, Nishikant! There were still so many stories that needed to be told! You will be remembered through your creations! Especially #MumbaiMeriJaan which is sheer brilliance! Your CINEMA will be missed! Farewell.”

Onkar Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; November 28, 2019)

During his long innings in Bollywood, filmmaker Vipul Amrutlal Shah has collaborated with established stars as well as newcomers. The filmmaker has not only helmed projects, but has also mentored first-time directors and new actors. In a conversation with BT, Shah spoke about upcoming film Commando 3, collaborating with Vidyut Jammwal and his plans to make Commando 4. Excerpts:

When you decided to make Commando in 2013, did you plan it as a franchise?
Commando has been one of the most difficult franchises because we wanted to start a unique action series in India with this. Action is a very expensive genre. We had a Vidyut Jammwal playing the lead, but to make it big, we needed resources. So, we decided to make at least three films under the franchise, and we planned to make every movie bigger than the other. The first film was based in a jungle, and it did well, so we shot the second in Bangkok on a bigger scale. This time around, we have shot Commando 3 in London. And looking at the results, I believe that probably Commando 4 is on the cards. Let’s see how big we can make that film.

You gave Vidyut a break in Bollywood with Force (2011) where he played the antagonist opposite John Abraham. Then, you signed him for the Commando franchise. Why did you think he was the right choice to shoulder a franchise so early in his career?
When I saw Vidyut’s audition for Force, I thought he was hero material, but, we filmmakers are greedy. We want what is best for the film. Force was my first collaboration with John, and a remake of a popular south film (Kaakha Kaakha). While I thought Vidyut deserved to be a hero, I launched him as a villain. During the course of the shoot, I was very clear that I will cast him as a hero and start an action franchise with him. The idea of Commando and how do we take it forward with Vidyut was playing on my mind constantly. Vidyut deserved to be the hero and that’s how Commando came into existence. It is a pleasure to work with someone who is gifted. Sometimes, when you work with newcomers, you feel responsible for their career. In fact, at some point in time, I would like to direct him. But, I want to find something unique for a collaboration in that space. Vidyut and I have exchanged a few ideas, but they didn’t materialise into a film. One of the ideas we discussed was to make a film without any action in it. There was not even a slap in the movie. However, I was not satisfied with the script, and so, we didn’t go ahead. I feel no actor should be limited to one genre. I think Vidyut deserves the opportunity to explore his talent in other genres as well.

When it comes to making the next film of an action franchise like Commando, do you feel the pressure to take it a notch higher every time?
No, it actually gives you more strength, because people already know the franchise, they are connected with it and want to see the next film. To try and better yourself is a process, which is constant. And that holds true for every project and not just a franchise. Sometimes you are successful, and sometimes you aren’t. No matter what the result is, you don’t stop that process.

In terms of the storyline, what can people expect this time around?
When we started making this film, the subject was such that people said, ‘You are a dreamer’. The film portrays that when the nation is under attack, Hindus and Muslims always unite and fight any challenge. This country is united because they live together in peace and harmony. A lot of people questioned my thinking. I am not a dreamer, but a realist. I think this is the best possible time to make a film like Commando 3. We talk about girls being at par with guys, and in this film, the audience will get to see the same. Adah Sharma and Angira Dhar will be matching up to an action star like Vidyut Jammwal. He is difficult to match up to, but both the actresses have done their stunts very well. I am also happy to introduce Gulshan Devaiah as the antagonist. The exchange of dialogues between Vidyut and Gulshan is one of the highlights of the film.

Though Vidyut has been a part of all the films made of the franchise, you have opted for a new director for each project. Why did you feel the need to do that?
I feel that every script requires a certain kind of treatment, and you have to select the right director for that particular story. For Commando 3, I felt that Aditya (Datt) was the best choice. If Deven (Bhojani, director of Commando 2), was directing Commando 3, he would probably see it as an extension of Commando 2. Aditya, as a new director, brings freshness to the table.

You have collaborated with actors like Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, and now, Vidyut Jammwal repeatedly, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with actresses…
I am working with Adah Sharma for the second time; she was a part of Commando 2, too. I have also worked with Katrina Kaif in Namastey London (2007) and Singh Is Kinng (2008). I had also met her for Namaste England (2018), but we felt that the role wouldn’t suit her, so we didn’t collaborate on that. I want to work with her again. In fact, I would also like to work with Aishwarya (Rai Bachchan), Priyanka (Chopra) and Sonakshi (Sinha) again. When I find the right script, I will reach out to them.

You have worked with established actors as well as fresh talent. How do you balance it out?
It is always great to work with people like Akshay Kumar and John Abraham. I have also worked with Salman Khan, Amit ji (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ajay Devgn. They are amazing and it is always a privilege to work with them. When it comes to newcomers or the young bunch, I like the kind of energy they bring with them. They want to go all out to prove themselves. Which is why I introduced Aditya Roy Kapur with London Dreams (2009) and I had cast Freddy Daruwala as the negative lead in Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty (2014). In Force 2 (2016), we had Tahir Raj Bhasin, and in Commando 3, we have Gulshan Devaiah, who has done an excellent job as the antagonist.

As told to Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 10, 2019)

I had recorded my stunts and instead of handing out portfolio pictures, I’d hand over this DVD to filmmakers. One day, my director-friend Deepak Shivdasani asked me to meet Nishikant Kamat who was casting for his directorial. When I met Nishi at the coffee shop below his house, I handed him the DVD. He liked what he saw, but insisted I audition for the role of the main villain in Force as he wanted a strong, fit guy to play Vishnu Reddy. The audition scene was a conversation with my brother in the film during which we are plotting revenge. Nishi shot me on a handy-cam, producer Vipul Shah gave me the thumbs-up and when we met, told me, “We will give you an action scene.” I didn’t understand what he meant. For me, it was just about breaking into Bollywood then.

We were supposed to do some readings before the shoot, but that didn’t happen because I had fallen ill. So, I turned up directly on the sets. On the first day, we filmed my introduction which had me fighting some six-foot goons in a godown. We were supposed to shoot in Africa, but eventually, canned the scene on a set in Mumbai. After seeing me fight, Vipul Shah promised to launch me as a hero if he ever made an action film. After a year and a half, he came to me with Commando, so my first shot did help me bag a solo hero action film.

Since we had started off with action, my confidence was up and I wanted to do good work. Overall, it was a smooth journey and for me, the nicest person on the set was Genelia D’souza. She was a big star and I loved chatting with her. We bonded over Kalaripayattu, as she had used the technique in one of her South Indian films, Urumi. One of my most difficult scenes was dragging Genelia by the hair. I was terrified because she looks so fragile. She kept telling me to do it, but I was skeptical as I had never treated a girl that way. I did it eventually.

Force was all about following instructions, but with experience, I’ve realised that one has to be careful in the choices one makes. I was just the villain of Force to John (Abraham)’s hero, but once I started doing solo hero films, I decided not to say “yes” to everything that came my way. A “no” makes me even more sure about what I want to do. I will believe where others doubt.

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 2, 2017)

How do I single out my most dangerous stunts when nothing I’ve ever done is boring and ordinary, regular or mundane? Everything has to be new and daringly different. I won’t punch or kick like I’ve seen another guy doing. When you are not from the industry, you have to prove yourself every time by doing something that will shock and silence everyone. For me, the silent treatment from the industry is amazing because it means there’s been a blast!

Commando 2 (2017)

There are 25 big stunts in the film. We had planned to do 38 but ran out of space. We’ll up the numbers in Part 3. The biggest of them, and my favourite so far, is the one where I climb three floors of a building.

Normally, action heroes across the world climb up one floor and jump down. I climbed up three flights, using a regular ladder to haul myself to the first floor, then pulling it up with all my strength to place it against the wall and climb the second and then the third floor before leaping back to terra firma. It took me three months of rehearsals to pull this off and it’s the scariest thing anyone can attempt. After seeing it, I’m sure the whole world is going to ask, “How did he do it?”

In the earlier film, I had jumped over a moving car coming straight at me with a flying front somersault. I’ve done this stunt live at stage shows without cables and got plenty of claps. Four years later, you will see me slide below a moving car. Thanks to all those years of practising yoga, I did a full back bend and went under. I could see the engine… Every nut, bolt and wire... The first time I went through very slowly and just scraped through. The second time, I went faster and the third time I zipped through!


Commando (2013)

I had squeezed through the window of a car in Commando: A One Man Army. It was important to squeeze through at the right time so I didn’t hit my head on the bar. Given my size, it was near impossible but I made it possible through timing, flexibility and conviction.

In the sequel, we’ve taken it a notch higher. I squeeze through the small window of a real building. We had rehearsed the stunt in Mumbai but when we reached the location, I realised that the window was too small. But I was still convinced I could do it, and I did. The mind went through the window first, and then the body.

What made it all the more difficult for me is that I’m taller than most actors. I’ve seen Jackie Chan and Tony Jaa do it, but Jackie is five-foot-five-inches and Tony an inch taller while I’m five-foot-eleven-and-a-half inches, besides being a big muscular boy. I had to squeeze all my muscles through that small space without hitting my chin. It was all about timing! I’ve often been asked how I get into small spaces and have pointed out that being a non-filmi kid, I have to be able to grab every opportunity that comes my way. Give me an opening — a small window — and I’ll get in.

Bullett Raja (2013)

I didn’t have much to do in this Tigmanshu Dhulia-directed film but there was one particular stunt that caught the eye.

I was supposed to climb on to this guy’s shoulder and decapitate him. Instead of choking him with my hands, I used my legs to bring him to his feet.


Force (2011)

Nishikant Kamat’s action-thriller was a remake of Gautham Menon’s 2003 Tamil hit, Kaakha Kaakha. It was my first Hindi film and I caught the eye with my individualistic, distinctive style of fighting.

The stunts I did then no longer seem so difficult in retrospect but I remember the body roll I introduced in the film when I take on these huge black guys. One of them was six-feet-six-inch tall. I got on him, rotated around his body and brought him to the floor.

Since it was well appreciated, I repeated it in Commando, doing the body roll twice. In Part 2, I not only rolled but rotated around the guy before bringing him down. There’s a natural progression even in the action sequences.

I also took the ‘wall back’ to another level of difficulty in an attempt to make it more visually challenging in my upcoming espionage thriller. In Force, I had climbed a wall, done a back somersault and landed on the floor. I repeated it in Commando and then in the sequel, I climbed the chest of a guy standing in front of me instead of an immobile wall, and then got the guy behind me with my leg.

What made the stunt two times more difficult was that I had to be careful not to injure the guy whose chest I climbed in the ribs and not kick the one behind me in the head. I had to be careful of other people’s lives while pushing the benchmark.

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 28, 2016)

FORCE (2011) & FORCE 2 (2016)

In Force I weighed 100 kgs with the fat count at six per cent which means I was 94 kgs of pure muscle. We needed an able villain to withstand ACP Yashvardhan and found him in Vidyut Jammwal. We had thought the action would be the film’s USP but the two biggest takeaways were me lifting the motorcycle and my romance with Genelia (D’Souza).

The 2011 film was a remake of Suriya’s 2003 Tamil film, Kaakha.. Kaakha. He’s a friend and after seeing my film he came home and told me that Force was memorable for him for the romance, along with the strength and the pain in my eyes.

We’ve found another able villain (Tahir Raj Bhasin) for the sequel who may not have Yashvardhan’s physicality and back flips, but he can think and so is far more dangerous not just for the ACP but also the country at large. After the Uri attacks in which so many of our brave soldiers were killed, Force 2, inspired by true stories, is more topical.

While promoting Force despite being injured, I was expected to lift up and throw a motorcycle down in every press conference. During Part 2, director Abhinay Deo and I asked ourselves how we could better that. The answer was to lift a car. I could have lifted a Nano or an Alto, I chose a front-heavy E-class Mercedes Benz with people inside and it became another talking point.

Matt Damon has the Bourne Identity series, Sylvester Stallone The Expendables and Rocky, Vin Diesel Fast and Furious, Bruce Willis Die Hard and John Abraham the Force franchise which will get bigger and better with every film. There’s no romance or songs, but it’s not a bloody thriller, it’s a sensible, credible film.


ROCKY HANDSOME (2016)

This, according to me, is the best action film in Indian cinema, poetry in motion. Sad that people who saw it on TV didn’t get to see all that we had shot because we left out 40 per cent of the sequences and the censors cut out another 20 per cent. I don’t know why the film didn’t work but Akshay Kumar called me up after seeing it, raving about the action and insisting I continue doing such films irrespective of their box-office fate.

I went to Thailand and learnt a Malay-Indonesian form of martial arts called Silat where you play with knives from the guy who trained Tony Jaa in Ong Bak. Every evening, I would scream in the shower because my back was cut and my body bruised black and blue. I would ask myself if the pain was worth it and the answer always was, “It’ll turn out fantastic!”

The film had eight action sequences, seven filmed over four-five days. The climax took eight days. I was pretty much invincible, either hammering or getting hammered. My navicular bone was broken, the bone in my forearm cracked and my rib-cage was fractured when I was hit by a stick which did not completely break. I looked down and saw my chest was blue. I simply strapped myself up and continued fighting...

MADRAS CAFÉ (2013)

I grew up with the memory of our late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination on May 21, 1991, while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in Sriperumbudur. When Shoojit Sircar chanced on this story and approached me, it was a life’s dream come true. But when we went shopping, we realised it had no buyers and after Vicky Donor decided to make it ourselves.

While shooting the climax, Shoojit and I got goosebumps because the two actors playing S Nalini Sriharan and T Suthendraraja alias Santhan looked so much like the originals. I wanted to feel the impact of the blast so I stationed myself in a ‘safe’ area, away from other actors. Just before the bomb went off, I turned, a blast of hot air hit my back and I fell. It was eerie!


SHOOTOUT AT WADALA (2013)

This film was all about adrenaline and testosterone. Manya Surve was the quintessential gangster, built like a bull, who had his reasons for crossing over. It’s an iconic character today and when Varun Dhawan and I were in Nagpur recently to promote Dishoom, he was awed to see the Manya Surve craze there!

In the climax, I’m shot 30 times. At one point Anil Kapoor stands behind me and fires at my head. The gun was faulty, and when he pulled the trigger, I collapsed. Action director Tinu Verma thought that like Brandon Lee I had died and broke down. Anil was in a daze till I stood up!

My ears rang with the sound of the gun for 15 days after that and the skin of my neck on one side, from ear to collarbone was burnt, gunpowder embedded in it. We retained the shot, it looked fantastic on screen!

NEW YORK (2009)

Kabir Khan had come to me with a war-documentary he’d and I agreed to shoot Kabul Express in Afghanistan even after RAW agents intercepted a Taliban message ordering my execution. I was provided security by the Afghan Intelligence. I had 60 soldiers around me, yet there was a suicide bomb attempt on my life 30 minutes before we went on the set.

One day, when Arshad Warsi and I went for coffee to a UN-approved hotel, once the home of President Najibullah, a rocket went over our heads and crashed into the US consulate. Condoleezza Rice, then US Secretary of State, was visiting and this was the Afghans way of saying they didn’t care for the Americans. I recall Arshad saying exasperatedly, “Why are we here? You have a reason to die, I’m going to die for no reason!”

Kabul Express led to New York, inspired by the 9/11 terror attacks. The action sequences looked simple but required b***s of steel. For one, I had to scale down from the 52nd floor of a glass building in Philadelphia, strapped to a window cleaning contraption, and warned that once the slide began, there’d be no going back. We were on the 30th floor when we were stopped. Barack Obama, who a couple of weeks later, on November 4, 2008, took the oath as America’s President, was on his campaign trail.

I was hanging from a glass building, surrounded by other glass buildings, oscillating like a pendulum, slamming the suction pipe to stay in place. The baddie with me, broke down when we reached the ground, relieved to be alive. A kung-fu kick or flipping off a wall is easy, its stunts like these that are death defying!


ZINDA (2006)

This anti-hero transcended the realms of evil. He kept the protagonist (Sanjay Dutt) imprisoned for 14 years and sent his daughter into a prostitution ring. Only at the end do we learn he had his reasons. I could see the audience cringing because this guy was cold-blooded, merciless and out to destroy. Yet, they’ve gravitated towards me when I play an anti hero.

The climax was shot on the 60th floor of a building. Sanjay had to punch me and I had to go flying down 10 floors. That was the first time they were using cables in India and I chose to do the scene myself. They couldn’t get it right, so I hurtled down 17 floors, banging into glass, before they reined me in.

Sanjay beat me to pulp and I kept asking for more. Reminded me of Sunny Deol bashing up Shah Rukh Khan in Darr.

Sylvester Stallone once said that action is not just about how hard you can hit but also about how hard you get hit.


DHOOM (2004)

When Aditya Chopra approached me for Dhoom, he warned me that I had no heroine or songs. I was okay as long as I had my bike and asked if I could choose it. It was my most attractive co-star. All the bikers in the film were my friends who did the film for me. In Goa, I’d sit with them and clean my bike between shots.

My double, Shashi met with an accident, his leg coming under the wheel of a truck, after the first action sequence, and had to be hospitalised. So I was my own double, doing all the stunts myself and begging Adi to let me take off my helmet occasionally so people could see it was me drive a 1000 cc motorcycle into a moving truck.

I did wheelies at 140-160km/hr and endos or stoppies too. My biggest reward was watching young boys do wheelies on their bikes after seeing Dhoom which went on to become a cult film. With due respect to Part 2 and 3, even today, if you ask anyone what Dhoom is about, they’ll say bikes. John Abraham too has become synonymous with motorcycles and a naturally cool quotient. I sincerely believe that if there is another Dhoom, it should have me.

Neha Maheshwri Bhagat (BOMBAY TIMES; September 27, 2016)