Dhaakad director Razneesh Ghai went 'above and beyond' for action sequences in Kangana Ranaut's thriller

Kangana Ranaut will be seen as a Lara Croft figure in Dhaakad, an upcoming spy thriller directed by Razneesh Ghai. The movie doesn't just offer Ranaut's never-before-seen avatar but will also feature heavy action scenes for which the team went "above and beyond", reveals the director.

Ghai told Mid-Day that he wanted to up the ante at every stage of making the movie, which he said is a "passion project" for everyone involved. For this, he and the producers brought onboard experts from other film industries. 

"For key sequences, we roped in action directors from the US, Korea, Canada and South Africa. [We also brought on board] Hitz international action specialists, as well as [famous stunt artistes] Cameron Hilts and Sea-young Oh. The Indian stunt team was on par with our international collaborators," said Ghai. 

Dhaakad is set in the backdrop of child trafficking and the exploitation of women, with Ranaut playing Agent Agni, who brings down these bad guys. The teaser released on April 12 showed Ranaut going on a rampage, where she's brutally killing person after person. Though the teaser did not reveal much about the story but it gave the audience a good look at what's to expect in terms of the action. 

In an interaction with news agency IANS, Ranaut had spoken about the heavy action sequences in Dhaakad and observed how rare it is in Hindi cinema to see female actors in such roles.

The movie is backed by Asylum films, Soham Rockstar Entertainment, and Sohel Maklai Productions. Dhaakad also stars Arjun Rampal as the main antagonist along with Divya Dutta and Saswata Chatterjee in pivotal roles.

The movie is set to release in cinemas on May 20 in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.