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Rajiv Rai’s 1992 action-thriller Vishwatma, starring Sunny Deol and Naseeruddin Shah in pivotal roles, was the first Indian film to be extensively shot in Kenya, with major sequences filmed in Nairobi and Mombasa. However, the shoot did not conclude without challenges. In a recent interview, Rajiv revealed that two actors from the film were arrested during the overseas schedule.
During a conversation with The Friday Talkies, the host asked the filmmaker about his approach behind shooting in Africa. He replied, “There was no specific reason behind going international. The story said that the villain runs away, then it’s interesting that he goes abroad. Africa was a cheap country to shoot for me. Moreover, there’s an action flavour there. I had contacts as well. I did some collaborations with them as well, got so much support from them.”
Without naming anyone, Rajiv Rai further shared that Nairobi has specific rules about venturing outdoors, and two Vishwatma actors were taken into custody for violating those guidelines. “You can’t roam in Nairobi at night. And, you weren’t allowed to carry dollars along with you, not even a single penny. So, we were in a foreign country, the actor’s had 10-15 dollars on them for shopping. If you get caught there, they can shoot you. It was a tough rule country,” he shared.
Rajiv added, “Like this, two actors were roaming around at 2 am and they got arrested for no reason. The sequence was like that – a foreign country, army everywhere, shooting down somebody was normal.”
After his close contacts got the Vishwatma stars out of jail, they were told not to roam around at night. “My co-producers had many contacts. They were respected citizens there and had political friendships locally. They got them (the stars) out and asked us to not go out anywhere. They instructed us to not go for a walk in roads, goli vagerah na lagjaaye. It was a military rule type. Every country has its own political law and culture, you have to follow that when you’re there.”
Besides Sunny Deol and Naseeruddin Shah, Vishwatma also starred Chunky Panday, Sonam, Divya Bharti, Amrish Puri, Raza Murad, and Jyotsna Singh.
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