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With Border 2 now out in cinemas, the scale and realism of its action sequences have become one of the most talked-about aspects of the film. In an exclusive conversation with Bollywood Hungama, producer Bhushan Kumar and director Anurag Singh opened up about the logistical, technical and creative challenges involved in mounting large-scale war scenes without relying on green screens.
EXCLUSIVE: Border 2 director Anurag Singh breaks down the “No green screen” approach for the action war film; speaks about the challenges of shooting at real locations
Director Anurag Singh revealed that one of the biggest challenges was shooting the action entirely on real locations rather than in controlled studio environments. The film was shot across locations such as Dehradun and Jhansi, often in extreme weather conditions, with large crews and complex staging.
He explained, “Shoot-wise, the most challenging were the action sequences. Because the scale increases. Your three–four-person crew becomes a 400–500-person unit sitting there. Because the scale increases. You are shooting on actual locations, not on green screen – in places like Dehradun or Jhansi. There is freezing cold or unbearable heat, and you have to do action from morning till evening.”
According to Singh, war sequences demand a level of coordination that goes far beyond standard action choreography. Each shot involves multiple departments working in sync — from explosives and stunts to crowd movement and actor positioning — leaving little margin for error.
“There are many elements in action. So many things have to come together. It has to work like clockwork for one shot to land correctly. You are doing blasts; you have to place explosives. How will people react, which actor will be at what distance, how much fire will come out – you know, all these people are working together to… And it is war. It’s not just two people’s action; behind them, 500 more people are running around, firing is going on, all this is happening. So doing action at that scale was quite difficult,” he added.
Another significant challenge was handling elements that cannot be practically recreated, particularly aerial combat. Singh noted that while the film aimed for realism, certain components, such as fighter planes, had to be created using visual effects — requiring careful integration to maintain believability.
“The second tricky part was that some things are not available today. If you talk about planes, the planes will obviously be VFX. You know, it’s not like you have actual planes with you that you can fly and shoot, so that has to be VFX. So now, how do you bring that up to a certain level and translate it on screen – these were all very challenging things,” he said.
Despite the technical demands, Singh emphasised that emotional authenticity remained central to the action design. Sequences such as Varun Dhawan’s trench combat and Sunny Deol’s tank battles were planned to feel raw and grounded, without allowing spectacle to overshadow character-driven moments.
He pointed out that strong performances help maintain emotional weight even in large-scale set pieces. “Emotions, what happens is, if you have taken good actors and your scenes are well written, you know those will translate,” Singh noted, adding, “We were talking about the actors – just now we spoke about Ahan (Shetty) being a very sincere boy, we know Varun (Dhawan) is a very good actor, we talked about Sunny (Deol) sir being a very emotional person, and Diljit (Dosanjh) paaji whose connection with people is also from the heart.”
Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Border 2 builds on the legacy of the 1997 classic by combining expansive action with grounded emotional storytelling. As the makers explain, the aim was not just to recreate war on a larger canvas, but to ensure that every explosion, movement and visual effect served the human stories at the centre of the film.
More Pages: Border 2 Box Office Collection , Border 2 Movie Review
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