Marudanaayagam news from Aussie

Excracts from SMH article on Bollywoods' Aussie Stunt Director, Grant Page.

But it's not just for this reason that Page says the Indian film industry is like no other. Consider his experience while working on his first action blockbuster, Marudanaayagam. When initial plans to shoot a battle sequence in Russia using the Russian army fell through, the film's producers suggested a more perilous alternative.
"They said, 'We're going to have to shoot in Kashmir,' " Page recalls. "I said, 'Hang on, isn't there a war going on up there at the moment?' And they said, 'Yes, that's where the army is, that's why we've got to go there.' I said, 'What if they start fighting while we're there?' And they said, 'Oh, it'll make great background.'
"The amazing part was the attitude of the army, that we could do what we liked with them, but they were freaked out about us bringing blanks into a war zone.
"We finished up shooting the battle scene with live rounds, so I did have to film the goodies and baddies separately."