Locations in Europe: Poland, Scotland
Storyline
Star(s): Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Randeep Hooda, Nawazuddin Siddiqui
Songs/Dance: Located in Europe and India
Indian/ International Crew: Indian and International
Language: Hindi
Director/Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala (Director and Producer)
Film Location Analysis
By Ranjani Mazumdar
Kick begins with a low-angle train shot against the Warsaw skyline. As the credits roll, Warsaw is established with its rooftops, street space, and cafes, which are intercut with shots of Shaina, a psychiatrist, getting ready at home, boarding a train, walking the streets to work, and returning home. We then see Warsaw by night, and as the melancholic song on the soundtrack conveys a sense of loss and depression, we begin to understand that something is amiss for Shaina. The passage of time is conveyed by the end as spring flowers transition to rain and finally snowfall. We see the exterior of the Indian Embassy and then move to the interior again to realise that Shaina is the Ambassador’s (Saurabh Shukla) daughter.
Next, Shaina is in a Warsaw tube with Himanshu, a family friend she has picked up from the airport. The train window shows the Świętokrzyski Bridge over the Vistula River. This bridge has a dramatic look both at night and during the day, with 48 cables holding up the deck. The bridge, which opened in 2000, is also connected to the city’s centre. The Polish landscape passes by as a blur, and we do manage to get a glimpse of the Warsaw stadium. The conversation between Shaina and Himanshu moves into flashbacks, with Shaina narrating her romantic past and breakup with Devi. At the end of the journey the two sit at an outdoor coffee place in Warsaw’s downtown. Here Himanshu talks about his pursuit of a crook named Devil. These flashbacks take us back to India, and the colour palette changes from the blue-grey tone representing Warsaw. After coffee, Shaina sees Devi, but he deliberately feigns not to recognize her. He is supposed to have amnesia and has come to Warsaw for treatment. This is only a ploy but is unknown to Shaina, who takes Devi to her apartment to observe him carefully in familiar situations since she knows him.
Devil is primarily in Poland to apprehend Shiv Gajra. He is often shown walking against the skyscrapers, walking alongside a tram, and walking the streets. He is also shown in interior spaces, where he plans his moves to catch Gajra. Devi is almost arrested at the Poniatowski Bridge in Warsaw when he makes a call from a public phone, and Himanshu and his team track him to the place. This bridge was destroyed during both the first and second world wars, revamped in the 1940s, and rebuilt several times later. Devi jumps off this bridge onto a moving truck to escape Himanshu’s pursuit. All these moments are carefully calibrated to highlight Salman Khan’s star persona.
At one point, the cat-and-mouse chase involving Himanshu and Devi takes the form of spectacular action that starts inside and around the Palace of Culture, where Shaina’s father, the Indian Ambassador, is inaugurating the Indo-Polish charity ball. Gajra is also present at this event, and Himanshu’s job is to protect him from Devil. Devil arrives there with Shaina, and it is at this event and the massive security arrangements that he is overseeing to ensure Gajara’s safety that Himanshu realises that Devi and Devil are the same person. Just as the realisation dawns on him, he rushes up the building to see Shaina being held hostage by Devil. Using her as a shield, Devil jumps out of the window with the aid of hanging ropes tied to his body. This is a dramatic downward movement performed against the Palace of Culture walls using a variety of camera angles. The Palace of Culture is a recognisable building located in the heart of Warsaw. Joseph Stalin was involved in ordering the construction and presenting the building as a gift from the Soviets to the Poles. In 1955, the Palace of Culture was officially opened. As a major architectural symbol of the Soviet socialist era, the Palace of Culture has dramatic interiors where several exhibitions, fairs, concerts, and shows have been held. This is also the tallest building in Warsaw.
The current facilities include a cinema, museums, bars, and a tourist information centre. The façade of the building has sculptures. The surrounding area becomes a place for concerts and other performances in the summer and skating in the winter. Architecturally inspired by several buildings from the Soviet Union, the Palace of Culture saw the addition of four 6.3-metre clock faces to the top of the building in 2000, making it briefly the tallest and now the world's second-tallest clock tower. As a major icon of the city, the action sequence with Devil jumping with the aid of wire technology establishes the force of the building, its textured exteriors, and its dramatic height against the sky.
The chase that follows can best be described as "chaos cinema," (Matthias Stork) where all the rules of continuity are broken. During this chase, we suddenly move to Glasgow, as evident from the buses and the police attire. The stable relationship between space and place collapses, and we are amid a frenetic and visceral experience where the action takes command over spatial coherence. We get brief glimpses of Glasgow police cars, which look different from the ones in Warsaw. The sequence is mounted with a desire for spectacle, and the combination of ground-level speed with aerial views succeeds in giving the chase an intensified form of performance where the two protagonists play out their antagonism as if on a global stage that is distinctly different from the space of India that emerges in the flashback sequences. This final chase combines technological splendour with many participants. The sheer scale here draws attention to the infrastructural arrangements made possible through a collaboration with Film Polska. This action sequence ends with Devi driving the bus over the bridge into the water, and a flashback connects the dots about why Devi steals and hates Gajra. The final climax is in India, where this Robin Hood figure as Devil succeeds in killing Gajra and celebrates with the children who have benefited from money stolen by him for their care. Kick works with a back story that is set in India, a conflict that drives the film’s main narrative set in the present in Poland, and a climax that takes us back to India.
At press conferences and interviews, Salman Khan spoke about how Warsaw was presented to introduce the city to potential tourists from India. In the ensemble of attractions, iconic sites such as Warsaw's downtown, the Old Town Market Place, the Palace of Culture, the Świętokrzyski Bridge, and others were combined with an incoherent but adventurous streetscape of frenetic action rendered with a sense of humour. Kick is the first film that attempted to map Poland’s urban landscape with a sense of novelty that was also considerably shaped by Salman’s stardom.
Additional Information & Links
Kick executive producer M.R. Shahjahan said: “Poland does not have rebates and grants like many countries, but costs are 25-30% cheaper than other countries in Europe. The country also has good infrastructure and all kinds of locations are available.” https://www.screendaily.com/poland-gets-a-kick-out-of-bollywood-attraction/5080253.article
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEmgF9p03rE&ab_channel=BeingSalmaniacs
https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/salman-khan-frenzy-hits-warsaw-638812
https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/salman-khan-frenzy-hits-warsaw-1.1323071
https://www.digitalspy.com/bollywood/a566226/salman-khan-fan-frenzy-in-warsaw-as-star-shoots-kick/
https://www.screendaily.com/poland-gets-a-kick-out-of-bollywood-attraction/5080253.article
https://poland.pl/culture-and-art/visual-arts/bollywood-warsaw/
http://filmcommissionpoland.pl/about-fcp/news/polish-premiere-of-bollywood-film-kick--tb4ivZ
https://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Cinema/2014-04-13/Salman-Khans-Kick-climax-in-Poland/91977
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/3997876
http://www.filmneweurope.com/news/poland-news/item/107967-bollywood-kicks-off-warsaw-shooting
https://www.bollywoodbubble.com/hot-news/salman-khan-fan-frenzy-warsaw/
http://archiwum.thenews.pl/1/11/Artykul/168871,Bollywood-sinks-London-bus-in-Warsaw-river
https://www.bollywoodpresents.com/bollywood-in-poland/
Tourism
Salman Khan: “Thanks to their rich plots, diversity (e.g. music and dance) and length Bollywood movies let us show much more than other productions. Once the love scenes have been filmed, European capitals start to attract, say, newlyweds going on their honeymoon or families with children. Kick is sure to get many tourists from India to come here because Poland is a beautiful country.” https://poland.pl/culture-and-art/visual-arts/bollywood-warsaw/
