Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
For directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, 7 Dogs has been as much an introduction to Indian cinema as it has been an international action film. The Belgian-Moroccan filmmaking duo came on board without being deeply familiar with contemporary Bollywood, but working with Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt quickly changed that. From watching their films to navigating the madness of shooting with them in Mumbai, the directors say the experience was nothing short of a film school.
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In an exclusive chat with India Today, Adil said, “We had heard of them but we were not as familiar. When we knew that we were going to work with Salman, and because we love history, we watched Bharat (2019) because it’s such an important movie about the history of India. And when we watched Dhurandhar (2025) for Sanjay. We’re starting to get more and more familiar with what modern Bollywood movies are, and also the high level of mastery in visual style, directing, acting, and it’s like going to film school working with them.”
The first meeting was just as overwhelming for the filmmakers. “When they came, they have a lot of charisma; you know they’re already legendary,” Adil said, comparing meeting Salman and Sanjay to meeting Will Smith. “It has the same vibe as meeting Will Smith for the first time.”
Bilall, too, was struck by their presence, but what stayed with him was how quickly that star power disappeared once they got to work.
“It’s crazy how much presence they have and also, again, they were very humble and sweet and friendly to everybody. We say action and then, you know, on the script it’s maybe a couple of lines, but they create something totally new and then add so many layers and lines. They made it so enjoyable,” he said, adding that the fun continued in the edit, where they would discover new things in the actors’ performances.
For Adil and Bilall, the stars also brought an understanding of cinema that they could learn from. “They are filmmakers,” Adil said of Salman and Sanjay, adding that their experience and perspective on Indian cinema “enriched” the film. And while fans were wondering about the short screen time for both these stars, the filmmaker chipped in, “There can never be enough Salman and Sanjay.”
Shooting with Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt
The directors, however, know there is enormous anticipation around the film in India, particularly with Salman’s fans waiting to see him on screen for the first time this year. And that comes with pressure, as Adil elaborated, “It’s a bit stressful because India is like the ultimate cinema country. I hope that we’re up to the standards of the audience. We really hope people appreciate the film beyond its Mumbai sequence, which though was the craziest of all the sequences.”
Shooting that sequence came with its own set of challenges. Sanjay’s star power, for one, was impossible to contain. Bilall recalled, “I was with Sanjay in Mumbai; it was insane. The mass of people that were everywhere he went. It was next level crazy.”
But it also gave these stars a first, as they shot the action sequence using 360-degree cameras. “They had to be the actors, they had to be the stunt people, but also, because we shot it with a different camera (on a selfie stick), they had to be the cameraman themselves,” Bilall said, while Adil added that these stars also did most of their stunts themselves.
The India connection appears to have gone far beyond 7 Dogs, as Adil and Bilall now want to make something in India themselves. Bilall said he would love to make a Peaky Blinders-style project in Mumbai, “something historical”, and they want to work with Salman and Sanjay again, as well as other Indian stars. They added that their discovery of Indian cinema is also quite personal.
“When we were kids, My Name is Khan was one of the first ones that really went mainstream because it was such an important story. We are Moroccan Muslims from Europe, so it was a story that really resonated. And I hope we can work with Shah Rukh Khan too. As for Salman and Sanjay, it was the first time, but hopefully this will continue. They are just extraordinary human beings, and we would love to work with them again,” Adil concluded.
7 Dogs also stars Ahmed Ezz, Karim Abdel Aziz, Monica Bellucci, Nasser Al Qasabi, and Max Huang, among others.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
