The Capital’s longest feature filming project to date covering 26 Abu Dhabi locations
As Bollywood’s upcoming action-adventure film, Dishoom, gears up for release on 29 July, twofour54 shares exclusive behind-the-scenes Dishoom is Abu Dhabi’s longest feature film project to-date and was filmed at 26 different locations in and around Abu Dhabi over 38 days.
Furthermore, Dishoom involved a number of ‘firsts’ for filming stunts in Abu Dhabi including:
- The high-speed motorcycle chase filmed inside Ferrari World. All the scenes in Ferrari World were filmed at night time
- The helicopter stunt. There were no stunt doubles, it was actors John Abraham and Varun Dhawan dangling from the two helicopters
- A car being driven into the ocean from Reem Island. After the scene was filmed, a diver was sent down to attach a towing device to the vehicle so it could be safely retrieved out of the water
- A jet ski being used in the main pool area of Yas Waterworld
- The high-speed boat chase, filmed on the Corniche water.
On the Abu Dhabi set of Dishoom:
- 100 crew members flew in from India and were joined by another 60 crew members from the twofour54 campus community (twofour54 Film and TV Services, twofour54 freelancers, and partner companies)
- All of the film’s top stars filmed scenes in Abu Dhabi: John Abraham, Varun Dhawan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Akshaye Khanna and Akshay Kumar
- On some days, as many as eight trailers were needed on location for the stars of the film
- The action vehicles and equipment trucks that were needed for the scenes shot at Nurai Island were transported to the island by barge
- Working together, twofour54 and Dishoom gave five young Arabs the opportunity to intern on set.
In the past three years, Hollywood and Bollywood producers have taken advantage of what Abu Dhabi offers, from its diversity of locations and advanced production infrastructure to professional services and the 30% rebate scheme. As a result, the Capital has successfully attracted other Bollywood films Bang Bang! and Baby as well as Hollywood blockbusters Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Fast & Furious 7.