Exclusive | Behind The Mammoth Action Sequences of 'Kattalan'

Kecha Khamphakdee is firmly in control as he commands a team of hundred and the entire Indian crew of Malayalam film Kattalan. When we meet in a forest on the Thai side of of the Thai-Myanmar border, the star isn’t Kecha nor is it the film’s hero Anthony Pepe. The entire focus is on the two elephants as they try shoot what appears to be a massive man versus animal fight sequence. These beasts spring into action like obedient actors, each time the film’s director shouts “rolling”. It’s as though their training was created for this specific moment in front of the camera. 

But they’re not just your regular, everyday elephants. Both Pepsi and Ekasit (as they’ve been named) have acted in several movies before, including the international sensation Ong-Bak and it’s sequels. They’ve been trained to perform stunts and to be patient for the camera since they were babies. Kecha, who knows the both of then for years, treat them like his own kids, building the sets and the crew around their comfort. He says, “It’s their training that sets them apart. It’s not easy to find such good actors and performers in other places. That’s why the crew has travelled so far.” 

The elephants are happy to listen to everything Kecha tells them too, provided they are given their timely treats. Men sporting screen costumes are used to mask the VFX that will be created around these animals in post production. “It was the crew that wanted to shoot the elephants action sequences with minimal VFX. That’s what creates the impact when you see it on screen.”

About the planning that’s required, he says in a mix of English and the Thai language, “I think it’s really good, because I think it is tough to shoot action between elephants and lead actors. We have to plan every single thing, and that’s the only way we get a totally new action sequence. We are able to pull it off only because the elephants are really easy to control.” 

He talks about the action in Ong-Bak and what was different about those films. He says, “If you see Ong-Bak, it has a sequences in which 50 elephants come towards the camera. That required a lot of planning off as you can imagine. You might also remember a fight involving the huge elephant taking on another. For Kattalan, we wanted to plan such massive sequences, but between man and elephant.” 

He finds the trick in being able to make elephants appear much bigger than they already are, giving them a shade that almost makes them look fierce and scary. “People have to really feel scared when they see the elephants. I want to make the elephant look cruel in the fight between people,” he adds. Shot at a budget of nearly 40 crores, it’s among the most expensive action films out of Malayalam. The choreographer, who has worked in Pushpa: The Rise, Pathaan and Baahubali, says he’s super excited to work in Malayalam.

He says, “Kattalan is my second movie and I’ll be working on a Malayalam movie after many, many years…maybe after eight to nine years. It feels good to be back to shoot a Malayalam movie again and my team is really excited too. This is also because we’re shooting a whole action schedule in Thailand and we are shooting with elephants from Thailand too. These elephants are very easy to control and both of them have worked on the Ong-Bak movies.“