Mumbai: A large number of people of the Hindi film industry paid tributes Wednesday to action director Parvez Khan, who died Monday. Among those who paid tributes was filmmaker Sriram Raghavan. He said the action director was blessed with an ability to convince actors to perform potentially dangerous stunts, without fear.
Parvez Khan, 55, began his career by assisting action director Akbar Bakshi in films like Akshay Kumar’s Khiladi (1992), Shah Rukh Khan’s Baazigar (1993) and Bobby Deol-starrer Soldier in 1998.
He started working independently with Ram Gopal Varma’s Ab Tak Chhappan in 2004. Parvez went on to have a long-standing collaboration with Raghavan in films like Johnny Gaddaar, Agent Vinod, Badlapur and his National Award-winning film Andhadhun.
Raghavan said Khan was a valuable member of his team. He was Raghavan’s go-to person for designing thrilling sequences that did not resemble typical Hindi film action pieces.
“One of his best qualities was that he made actors comfortable, whether it’s debutant Neil (Nitin Mukesh), or Tabu or a veteran like Dharmendra. He could charge them up to perform potentially dangerous stunts safely and without fear. Saif (Ali Khan), Varun (Dhawan), and Ayushman (Khurrana) all got along fabulously with him,” informed Raghavan.
“They were all ‘Sher ka bachhas’ to him. That’s how he used to encourage them during a stunt,” said Raghavan while remembering his colleague.
The director said he always thought that Parvez Khan had a ‘hidden actor’ in him and even cast him for a cameo in his Johnny Gaddar. The film marked Neil Nitin Mukesh’s debut in Bollywood.
In Badlapur, Parvez helped the director design the opening sequence which had a bank robbery, followed by a car chase during which a child falls off a moving car and the mother is shot dead.
The action master also designed the jail escape sequence, a crucial one as it hides the fact that Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s character has aged and there is a time transition in the story. The entire sequence was done in long shots till the transition is revealed.
The director said he worked with many action masters in Agent Vinod, but his favourite sequence is the hand-to-hand combat between Saif and a thug, which is intercut with another such combat between them in the past in a different location. “We had a lot of fun figuring out the beats and transitions of that sequence,” Raghavan said.
The director and Parvez collaborated last on Andhadhun and as the story revolved around a supposedly blind pianist, the action had to be designed ‘for a blind man and not make it the ‘Daredevil’ zone’.
“I remember Tabu was terrified when she had to throw the old lady off the balcony. Of course, we had a stunt girl wearing a wig and of course, we had safety nets and ramps and so on. But Tabu was still understandably nervous. ‘How do I do it?’ she asked. Parvez had a simple reply. ‘Just pick and throw!’,” he recalled.
The director said he will always remember Parvez’s ‘booming voice and strong, warm handshake’.
