Elaborate set of Turkish town being built at SRPF Ground for Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif-starrer Tiger 3 as the unit cannot travel to the interiors of the Eurasian country amid pandemic.
A still from the Tiger Zinda Hai
If Salman Khan can’t go to Turkey, the country will come to him. The superstar was initially supposed to kick off the third instalment of the Tiger series in Istanbul. While the plan has had to be deferred due to the rising COVID-19 cases in the country, producer Aditya Chopra has done the next best thing — he has arranged for his production design team to build a Turkish town in Mumbai where Khan and leading lady Katrina Kaif can film pivotal sequences of the espionage thriller.
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“A lavish set, reflecting the architectural style of a quaint Turkish locale, is being erected at the SRPF Ground in Goregaon. Maneesh Sharma [director] wants several heavy-duty action scenes, complete with artillery tanks and grenades, to play out against this backdrop as Salman’s Tiger and Katrina’s character Zoya Humaimi take on the bad guys. The set will be up and running by the first week of April,” reveals a trade source. Meanwhile, the team has begun the first schedule at the Yash Raj Films studios in Andheri.
Aditya Chopra and Maneesh Sharma
Though the producer-director duo intend to complete some portions of the thriller on home turf, the outdoor stint is not off the table. The source explains, “Tiger 3 is one of Adi’s most ambitious projects, and he intends to take the story across seven countries. He is constantly reworking the schedule, keeping the safety of the cast and crew in mind. The team will head to Istanbul and Dubai in June. He decided to create the Turkish set here because he realised that whenever they do go to Istanbul, it will be difficult to travel to the interiors because of the pandemic.”