Art & Entertainment

Chan Reaction

The superstuntsman ain’t hangin’ his boots yet

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Chan Reaction
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It’s after eight in the evening and Jackie Chan still has a couple of interviews to wrap up, a gala dinner to attend, but he can barely keep still, high on easy energy, eyes shining. Though all he appears to be drinking right now is fresh coconut water. “When I was asked to come to India for the China film festival, I thought it was perfect. Of the 1.2 billion people, I would probably have, what... 700 million fans here? I have come to say hello,” he smiles.

If the world knows him as kung-fu king, master of all stunts, the evergreen action hero—and more importantly, a star who has lasted 53 years in some 200 films and counting—there seems absolutely no sign of exhaustion. He’s still dapper at 59, dressed in an off-white linen suit, and stands taller than he has ever looked in his films. He recently bagged two Guinness World records—one, for the most number of stunts by a living actor; the second, for getting the most number of credits—both for his latest film Chinese Zodiac. Of the 15 credits, he is listed, wait, not just as director, actor, producer, writer, stunt choreographer—but as catering coordinator, props and unit production manager as well.

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Control freak, Mr Chan? “Yes,” he says, with trademark grin, “I like to show my crew how it’s done. And I don’t like the traditional ways of functioning, where everyone just takes their lunchbox and eats in a corner alone.” At this point, Chan springs up from his chair and hops across the room, crouching in a corner and pretending to take mouthfuls of food to illustrate his point. “I like everyone to eat together. If there are 350 people on set, I buy 350 chairs. Plus drinks, water, biscuits, chocolate, all free. On set, when people finish bottles of water, I stand over them till they learn to squish the bottles and throw them in a dustbin,” he explains, squishing a couple of Bisleri bottles on the table to pulp, smiling widely. “I have combined the American and Chinese style of working. The Americans, they waste too much money, the Chinese are penny­-pinching, and don’t care about the people working for them. But I invest in people, without wasting money.”

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If a mere interview with the Hong Kong actor can so resemble a Jackie Chan film trailer, there is little doubt the man hasn’t lost his game just yet. He has held out this long, he believes, because he continues to be a stunt purist, doing most of the dirty work himself, fractured skull, dislocated pelvis, broken ribs notwithstanding. “Every inch of my skin has been hurt. Earlier, we would just go boom, baam, with nothing to protect us,” he recalls, arms flailing. “It was in my 20s that I went to America and I discovered, oh, that’s a shoulder pad, oh, that’s an elbow pad, oh, that’s an airbag!” Naturally, one would think that with the kind of cutting-edge technology and special effects on offer today, Chan would want to give his bones a rest, but no—“I know the audience likes the way I make movies, the way I shoot in real locations, with real action. I shoot, reshoot, and edit till it’s perfect. If I didn’t do all this on my own, I would be gone, gone, gone already.”

And what’s next? “I want to be the Robert De Niro of Asia. I want to be a true actor and not just an action star.” So, is it goodbye to the martial arts-driven action formula? Chan believes that while it hasn’t lost appeal, studios are hesitant to put their money on new martial arts stars. “When they want to see true action, they still choose me. When they want to see special effects, there are so many to choose from. I’m not happy about that, because it’s not easy, to keep injuring myself.” And then: “Shoshekke-shooshekka-shak­kka-papapaahhh,” he chants, slicing his arms into air in all kinds of directions, leaving us a little befuddled. He sure makes it look oh-so-easy.

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