Lakshya Raj Anand on Attack, blending sci-fi and patriotism elements to make first Indian super-soldier film

For someone who has assisted on spy thrillers like New York and then went on to be associated with espionage and action flicks like Ek Tha Tiger and Bang Bang, making his big-screen directorial debut with 'fast paced' super soldier thriller Attack (releasing on 1 April) can be called a natural progression.

Lakshya Raj Anand who helms the John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez and Rakul Preet Singh-starrer, says he had written an action film long back as Ek Tha Tiger’s sequel when he was assistant on that film. “Later Captain America came and technology kept changing. I was inspired by a lot of films, lot of news articles and then we learnt that the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) is making super soldiers and at the same time there is Elon Musk who is making a chip and putting it into your brain, so all that inspired me to make an action film,” says Anand. “Also, Bollywood action films started looking fake when one hero was seen beating up 10 people. So we thought of giving the hero a superpower and calculate how many people are around him and from where he can hit. Now when he hits 10 to 15 people you will enjoy it,” the director adds.

The film’s story is penned by the lead hero John Abraham who is also the producer of the film, and Anand has co-scripted the film with Sumit Batheja and Vishal Kapoor. “The idea was developed over a period of five years. We didn’t want the film to be another Robo Cop or Terminator but an original one,” says Anand. Further, talking about the characters, he says, “John as Major Arjun Shergill is the central character of the film and through his eyes you see India. He is someone who has lost everything in life, so first we show the protagonist down and out completely and then when he rises it is amazing.

Rakul’s character I would call the new India. She has studied abroad but she comes back to her country to make this technology for DRDO and serve it for the country’s betterment. The only way to serve the country is not just being a soldier and going to the border, you can also be a scientist. So, we have taken the combination of best scientist and best soldier to make India’s first super-soldier film. Jacqueline’s character is a moral compass, and it is away from the world shown in the film. She wants to live life, it is a beautiful mix where even John’s character has this personal side to him but then he has to serve the country.”

Sci-fi isn’t a new genre in Indian cinema and that it has moved on a great deal since, given India’s greater exposure to foreign films but it has nothing like the profile it has in the west. The genre certainly hasn’t been explored in Bollywood to which the director says, “We have made the film very easy to understand.

People might categorically call Attack a sci-fi film, but I would like to call it an entertaining film, where mass and class can come together in a sweet spot and what multiplexes like.

There’s definitely a side of emotional drama and patriotism to it. It is not only a time travel or sci-fi film. This was the reason I said part one, if people will accept it, then parts two and three would go into that zone.”

Elaborating further, he adds, “I have consciously made my storytelling strong. Story is moving forward because the characters are getting to know each other through action, it is not fizool or unnecessary action, it is reacting to something that happens. Over time, people have seen formula films, but with Attack my focus was to tell a story, my intention wasn’t to make solely an action film or just a sci-fi film. These are incidentals that happened because of the story and that take away the pressure. It is a film we are very proud of. To make a film of this scale with a limited budget… We had a great team and people believed in the vision.

The director, who has studied filmmaking from New York University (NYU) and USC (University of Southern California, Dramatic Writing course), seems confident when it comes to ‘modern techniques’ of filmmaking considering that he has also worked on high voltage action dramas. “Technically I didn’t feel any pressure because I come from a film school background and I have been an AD on some of the action films so I have run those sets. When I had to do it I gave 110 percent more. My vision was how I can break the previous challenges. For Ek Tha Tiger we had made a breakthrough in the way action films are made. Then we went a few notches higher in Bang Bang and with Attack we have gone even higher. Today we live in the Instagram and video game world…I have made the film the way a young person would make it on an I-phone. Visual storytelling is what people enjoy considering they enjoy video games, PUBG…it’s like a first person experience,” he says.

The box office numbers may be intimidating to the first time director but he says that he doesn’t doubt the number of stars he will get from the public and critics alike. “The film has been crisply edited with a run time of just one hour and 47 minutes. I have not wasted people’s time. I am hoping that the audience will find it engaging and entertaining and they won’t check their phone while watching it. Now whether the box office numbers or the screens come I don’t know because I don’t have the experience. Also, in the last two years of Covid no distributor, no production house, nobody knows what the audience has seen in that period, we have not been in touch with the audience. People have consumed a variety of content online, so I don’t know where I stand. What technology means to the world is the film’s theme, so yes, Attack can be a franchise as big as Marvel. It can go anywhere, it can have super soldier toys, it can be a web series, it can be spin-offs…that is the world we have created,” he says.

Lastly, is he worried about competing with Rajamouli’s RRR that has been breaking new records since the time it was released last week? “Look, left, right, I don’t know what is happening, I have made my own film. As a filmmaker I don’t believe that we are in a competition, actually he (Rajamouli) inspires me. If he makes a better film with his visual effects, next time I will get more budget for my film because we all make films together. If Uri had not happened, I don’t think Attack would have been made in this space,” Anand concludes.

Seema Sinha is a Mumbai-based mainstream entertainment journalist who has been covering Bollywood and television industry for over two decades. Her forte is candid tell-all interviews, news reporting and newsbreaks, investigative journalism and more. She believes in dismissing what is gossipy, casual, frivolous and fluff.

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by Seema Sinha