Superstar Jackie Chan's upcoming Sino-Indian co-production Kung Fu Yoga has an interesting title. At a press conference for Kung Fu Yoga in Mumbai yesterday (23 January), Chan spoke about calling his film Kung Fu Yoga. Chan was joined by co-producer and actor Sonu Sood, director Stanley Tong, Indian actresses Disha Patani, Amyra Dastur and fellow Chinese actress Miya Muqi.
"As a martial art director, we will always think of a new idea. We've seen a drunken master, we have an eagle, snake, tiger. After all those years, we ran out of ideas. We had nothing left to show. So, I felt we could do something new and special. For the last couple of years, we have yoga — so hot in Asia. So, I thought we should make a Kung Fu Yoga."
Jackie Chan done with action, dreams of being in an Indian film
Remarkably, the title was thought first, but Chan didn't have a script. "I told my director about this great idea of Kung Fu Yoga. He asked me whether I had a script? I told him if you are interested then I'll do it. Nine months later, Tong had a script and I was excited to go to India again. If Kung Fu Yoga makes a good profit, then the next one would be Kung Fu Spa," said Chan.
One of the eye-catching visuals from Kung Fu Yoga is the image of Chan caught with a lion in a car.
Talking about it, Chan said, "We made the movie in Dubai, where we wanted to shoot car chasing scenes." Chan wasn't so gung ho about it as high-speed car chases are a common sight in movies. "We have seen so many films with car chases, the director tells me they are very expensive cars — Ducati, Lamborghini. I said 'So what?' But then he says, 'With a lion?' I said 'what? But a good idea'. When we came for the shoot, I said, 'It's a bad idea'. I go to the cage to see how close I can get to him and he roars."
Adding why he chose Chan to be in a car with a lion, Tong said, "Jackie Chan always wants to have something new. Every movie that I have worked with him for the last 25 years, I have come up with new action sequences that only Jackie can do the best. I thought it would be interesting to shoot such a sequence in Dubai, where you find people raising wild animals. We first shot with the lion in his cage, then we got him out. We had a teddy bear to teach the lion how to act. Jackie jumped out of the car as quickly as he got in."