30 actors, 50 vanity vans, 250 cars: Ahmed Khan on how he shot Welcome To The Jungle

IF unity has to nominate all the actors starring in Ahmed Khan's receive To The Jungle in unity breathing time, it would be nearly impossible. The film boasts a cast of 34 actors from different generations, with Akshay Kumar leading the ensemble. Recently, Ahmed Khan broke down the logistics of the film and explained how he managed the scheduling and coordination of so many stars.'You expect ego clashes...'Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Ahmed admitted that pulling off a film of this scale was an uphill task, but all the actors were extremely cooperative. He said, "Usually, on sets with so many big stars, you expect ego clashes, arguments, or friction. But we had none of that; we had a genuinely wonderful time shooting the film. Of course, bringing that many people together under intense heat, managing strict timelines, sorting dates, setting up the camera frames, and mounting the physical sets took immense effort."30 actors, 50 vanity vans, 250 carsThe director did a little math and revealed that there were days when 30 actors were present on set at the same time. With each actor accompanied by a team of around five people, that alone accounted for nearly 150 people. In addition, the production had a crew of around 200 members.Ahmed added that stunt teams, action fighters, horsemen, 150 to 200 background actors, and large dance troupes often pushed the total number of people on set to anywhere between 700 and 900 on certain days. He further explained that shooting the film felt like organising a massive music concert every day. According to him, the production had to secure two large adjacent grounds to accommodate the scale of the operation. He said, "Imagine setting up a shoot of this scale; we didn't just need a ground, we had to find two massive, adjacent grounds. Why? Because we needed space to park 50 vanity vans. We needed additional holding areas for the background actors and cabins for the main unit. Then consider the commute. The actors arrive in their cars, the technicians in theirs, plus separate vehicles for the makeup teams, hair stylists, and personal staff. We were dealing with 200 to 250 cars arriving daily. Managing our set was less like managing a traditional film shoot and more like organising a massive music concert every single day!"About Welcome To The JungleLed by Akshay Kumar, the film stars Suniel Shetty, Disha Patani, Jacqueline Fernandez, Arshad Warsi, Jackie Shroff, Paresh Rawal, Raveena Tandon, Lara Dutta, Farida Jalal, Johny Lever, Shreyas Talpade, Tusshar Kapoor, Rajpal Yadav, Krushna Abhishek, Kiku Sharda, Daler Mehndi, Aftab Shivdasani, Mukesh Tiwari, Yashpal Sharma, Kiran Kumar, Zakir Hussain, Vindu Dara Singh, Urvashi Rautela, Hemant Pandey, Brijendra Kala, Feroze Khan (Arjun), late Pankaj Dheer, Puneet Issar, Sudesh Berry, Jeetu Verma, Vrihi Kodvara, Adityaa Singgh, and Bhagya Bhanushali.The film is set to hit theatres on Friday, June 26.