Action-director Sea-Young Oh on 'Kill': Wanted real hits and punches, not acting

MUMBAI: "Let's do it for real" was the only brief that South Korean action director Sea-Young Oh had for actors Lakshya and Raghav Juyal while working on "Kill", which has been hailed as one of the most unique action movies to come from India.

The story, produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and Guneet Monga's Sikhya Entertainment, is set on a moving train as one man and his friend take on a group of violent goon who board the train and start looting and killing passengers randomly.

Oh has emerged as Bollywood's favourite action director in recent years and has worked with stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Salman Khan on movies such as "Fan", "War" and "Tiger 3".

The action master, known for his work on Korean as well as international projects such as "Parasite", "Snowpiercer", "Avengers: Age of Ultron", "Ode to My Father" and "Sympathy for Mr Vengeance", said "Kill" director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat wanted action sequences to convey the vulnerabilities of an ordinary man bent on revenge.

"It really took months to design the action sequences... Lakshya and Raghav performed action so well that I didn’t have much briefs to give them. There was only one thing I had to request to them: 'Let's do it for real. Not acting like it is real, but do it literally with real hits and punches'," Oh told PTI in an interview.

The action in “Kill” makes excellent use of the train’s narrow corridors, restricted spaces, berths, and toilet seats, and the South Korean action director said this presented a challenge and required meticulous planning and execution.

"Doing action in such a compact space is particularly dangerous because of the tight distance they have to fight in. Any misdirected punches or misuse of weapons could become a threat to their co-actors.

"The challenge was to design in a way that everybody could perform the action safely, and for that we had to go through rigorous training. Everybody got hurt almost everyday, but nobody was severely injured. It’s always a challenge if the action space is too small, or too big. But that’s the kind of challenge I enjoy," he said.

The small budget thriller emerged as a favourite with critics when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. It has earned over Rs 20 crore in three weeks and continues to enjoy a box office run.

Asked about similarities between "Snowpiercer" and "Kill", both set in a moving train, Oh said while some scenes could look similar because of the space, they all are unique stories designed with different sentiments.

"It’s hard to word out the details, but the similarities would be that all the above-mentioned films are set inside a train, and the differences are the stories and the characters. And these differences are the factors that determine the action design.

"My past experience (on 'Snowpiercer') didn’t help much for this film," he said.

Production company, 87Eleven Entertainment, who are responsible for the groundbreaking “John Wick” series, will produce the Hollywood remake of “Kill”.

Oh said he is proud that the film is getting a Hollywood remake but whether he will work in the Hollywood version is not in his hands.

"I can’t be involved in that film just because I want to. They would want to hire me. It’s rewarding to know that the John Wick producer is planning to produce a remake of ‘Kill’. I’m so proud that ‘Kill’ is receiving so much love and praise,” he said.

Asked about any action film in Bollywood that he enjoyed recently, Oh had a surprising answer: Alia Bhatt-starrer "Gangubai Kathiawadi".

"I don’t get awestruck by films that are amazing only in action. The story (drama) is more important. I recently really enjoyed watching ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, I think it’s a truly well-made film.”