Mumbai is hardly the place one associates with jungles. But trust director Ahmed Khan to turn parts of the city into dense forests for Welcome To The Jungle. mid-day has learnt that on December 5, the director began shooting the climax that will play out across five venues — Film City, Royal Palms, Borivali, and two locations in Aarey Colony. The production team, led by Shailesh Mahadik, has built sets depicting wilderness.

The original plan was to film the climax of the ensemble comedy — starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Arshad Warsi, Raveena Tandon, Jacqueline Fernandez, Disha Patani, Lara Dutta, Paresh Rawal, Tusshar Kapoor, and others — in the forests of Uttar Pradesh.

A source revealed, “But the biting cold was a deterrent. Plus, the production team realised it’d be logistically impractical to shoot in the forests with a 34-member cast and 500-strong unit. Given the kind of stunts involved, Ahmed and producer Firoz A Nadiadwala decided to relocate the shoot to Mumbai.”

After this leg is complete, the director will travel to North India to capture wide shots in the jungles. Khan told mid-day, “It’s wonderful that we’re shooting the climax now. Getting so many actors together was the only challenge, but once on sets, it’s a party.”

Shooting in the monsoons can be a gamble, and Welcome To The Jungle director Ahmed Khan got dealt a rough hand. Earlier this week, a huge set, constructed at the Golden Tobacco studio in Vile Parle, was damaged by the torrential rains (Blame it on the rain, August 5). Five days on, the set has been rebuilt, and the director is ready to call action again on the Akshay Kumar-led comedy today.

The ensemble cast—including Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Raveena Tandon, Jacqueliene Fernandez, Disha Patani and others—was to originally kick off the schedule on August 4. For the stint, production designer Shailesh Mahadik had built an elaborate set depicting a Kashmiri town.

A source reveals, “This set was first built in March, over 10 acres of land. It was so vast that actors had to travel in golf carts from their vanity vans. While it was dismantled after the shoot, the makers later needed a portion of the set-up again for some scenes. So, a part was rebuilt in late July. But days before the August 4 shoot, the set was damaged by the Mumbai downpour.”

Mahadik’s team took the blow in their stride, and as soon as the rains abated, began creating the world a third time over. “They had to re-create a house situated in the centre of the set. Now, the actors are set to return to the location.” 

When mid-day reached out to Khan, he said that such mishaps are not uncommon. “We’re managing our actors’ dates, and will shoot with those available [today]. Thanks to our producer Firoz bhai [Nadiadwallah], construction is going on and we are ready to resume work. The redesigned set is bigger.”