The Atlee-Shah Rukh Khan blockbuster film Jawan is Rajesh Thaithara’s biggest project yet. He ‘built’ the Metro train, first featured in the film’s hugely popular teaser, and the Bekarar kar ke humein… song. The civil engineer who fabricates vehicles for Malayalam,Tamil and Telugu films is understandably excited about Jawan. “The work came through Muthuraj sir [production designer of the film T Muthuraj], who did the sets for the film, and with whom I had worked for 2.0,” Rajesh says over the phone.
The 135-foot dummy train was built over 26 days in September 2021, and fabricated in a film studio in Goregaon, Mumbai, with the help of a team of 80 people. “It was intense work, which had to be done quickly as studio floor rents are exorbitant in Mumbai, running into several lakh rupees. We worked on the measurements of the Mumbai Metro, since it was a train there.” The research included travelling on the Metro train and downloading photographs of the coaches and cockpit. “I had some reference images of the Kochi Metro, which I had clicked. I couldn’t use them as both have very different dimensions.”
