Chethan D'Souza: One gets to see Sudeep’s breakthrough action in Max

An update by stunt director Chethan D’Souza on Kichcha Sudeep’s upcoming film Max has sent excitement through Sudeep’s dedicated fanbase who are eagerly awaiting news about the film’s progress. In his post about Max, he said, “Wrapping up a 43-day intense action on the sets of Max alongside the incredible Kichcha Sudeep Sir!” He continues to elaborate that since October 2023, the project has been a whirlwind of growth and learning, with Chethan himself directing the character introductions and the epic climax, among other sequences.

Chethan doesn’t hold back when expressing his admiration for Sudeep, describing their collaboration as an exciting journey from coordinating parkour in the iconic Ranna (2014) song to now orchestrating major action scenes. Speaking to CE, Chethan gave us a few more updates, explaining, “In my collaboration with Sudeep for Max, I shot in a span of 43 days, starting with the character introduction and small sequences in between. The climax alone was shot for 25 days, which was shot in a span of two-and-a-half months,” he mentions.

Elaborating the reason for the same, “I can’t reveal the plot, but this is an extraordinary climax sequence which has a couple of fights happening simultaneously, along with chase sequences, gunfights, man-to-man fights and fireballs. The scale is huge, so all this cannot be done in a short span.”

Apart from Chethan, Kevin and Dhilip Subbarayan have also handled a couple of fight sequences for the film. According to the stunt choreographer, the action in Max will break new ground for Sudeep, pushing him to showcase a side that audiences have never seen before. “He’s ensuring that every punch, every stunt, delivers uniqueness. There are not many scenes where a body double has been used, and Sudeep is scorching the screen through the fights. He has delivered the style required for the film to the T,” says Chethan, who has worked on the stunts in the recent Malayalam hit Aavesham.

“I have designed the fight sequences for Sudeep’s stature who plays a cop in the film, matching to his personality and performance and character-oriented buildup,” he adds, noting that he had the entire team as a part of the climax.

The climax portions took place with Sudeep and the ensemble cast including Sunil, Varalakshmi, Samyuktha Hornad, Sukrutha Wagle, Govinde Gowda, Vijay Chendoor and Ugramm Manju, among others. “We also had more than 50 to 60 fighters at each place, and around 15 to 20 vehicles, bikes, vehicle toppers which made it very interesting,” he says.

Interestingly, Chethan is one among the first audience to watch the film, and according to him, Max is an exciting film by Sudeep which is coming soon. “For the first time, I have worked on a film on such a large scale. Thankfully, our producer Kalaippuli S Thanu gave us the free hand, and production cost to execute. Shekar Chandru captured the cinematography and was well-handled by director Vijay Karthikeyan,” he says.

Chethan, who is headed to Hyderabad, is collaborating for Vijay Devarakonda’s next project, and will also be associating for projects starring Nayanthara, and a project with director Vignesh Sivan. He is also in talks for films starring Pawan Kalyan and Sai Dharam Tej. As for Kannada, I have Bagheera and Gathavaibhava, he says.

Max, which has 2 to 3 days of shoot, will take place in Hyderabad, and is set to wrap the film by May 25. The film is now in post-production, and work is on for the CGI. Max  is set for a multilingual release, and if all goes as per plan, Max eyes an end-of-July release. However, a confirmation is yet to come from the production end.