“We had to go higher than Commando,” is the simple explanation given by producer Vipul Shah as to why the Skyfall action director Greg Powell was brought in to Mumbai to work on Akshay Kumar for the Hindi remake of the Tamil film Thuppakki. Apparently, Akshay arresting action under Powell’s supervision is on a par with Daneil Craig’s breathtaking hijinks in Skyfall. Says a source, “With Hrithik pulling out all stops with his stunts directed by the world renowned Tony Ching (House Of Flying Daggers, Soccer Shaolin) Akshay asked his pal producer Vipul Shah to take the action in the Thuppakki remake to another level. That’s when Powell was brought in.” Post-Commando Vipul too was keen to take the action to another level. But he clarifies there is no competition between the Commando hero Vidyut Jamwal and Akshay Kumar, “They are leagues apart. Akshay Kumar is an acknowledged superstar. His stunts are so natural one can’t call them ‘stunts’ as the word implies something gimmicky.” As for Akhay’s secret stunts Vipul says, “Akshay is the most authentic action hero of our cinema. In this film his combination with Powell would leave all other action scenes in Bollywood far behind.” Greg Powell was asked to keep the action as normal and credible as possible. Apparently the action in the Thuppakki remake would be antithetical to the outlandish kicks somersaults of the Rowdy Rathore variety. Says Vipul, “Greg was here for two weeks. He did some of the most amazing action scenes with Akshay. I am confident this film will take action sequences in our films to another level. In the Hindi version of Thupakki we aren’t competing with action scenes in Commando. We’re competing with the action of Thupakki.” Reacting to reports that the film is titled Pistol Vipul smirks, “Some have even written that the film is titled Attack. Please grant us with more imagination than this. I can assure you we will find a less banal title than Pistol or Attack.”