John Abraham, Divya Khosla in Lucknow for Satyameva Jayate 2

Actor John Abraham and Divya Khosla Kumar are in Lucknow to shoot for upcoming film Satyameva Jayate 2. Helmed by Milap Zaveri, the team will also be shooting for a few days at a Mumbai studio early next year before calling it a wrap.

New Delhi: Mumbai's COVID crisis may have given other cities an opportunity to host shootings for Hindi films. Lucknow is all set to host the cast and crew of John Abraham and Divya Khosla Kumar starrer Satyameva Jayate 2, the shooting for which will commence from Wednesday.

The team will continue shooting till January 2021.

Director Milap Zaveri, who is all praise for the Uttar Pradesh government, said, "On the first day, we will shoot only with the lead pair, but subsequently, other actors like Harsh Chhaya, Gautami Kapoor, Shaad Randhawa, Anup Soni, and Sahil Vaid will join in."

"We will be shooting across Lucknow, including at heritage structures like palaces and colleges. Some of the live locations will be completely sealed off, so crowd gazers cannot sneak in. Only our cast and crew will be present on the spot."

Zaveri shared that even the action scenes will be shot on the streets of Lucknow and that he has taken his leading man, John, through all the locations virtually. The director lauded John for agreeing to shoot in these tough times.

Acknowledging the challenge, producer Bhushan Kumar expressed his confidence over the stringent SOPs that "will create a safe shooting environment".

"It will be scary for the crew at live locations, but it is important to give our audience some entertainment during this pandemic," he asserted.

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Promising that the part 2 will be bigger and better than the 2018 original, Bhushan added, "When we decided to take John Abraham and Divya Khosla Kumar in the franchise, we had to be ready with larger-than-life stories and characters. This script is a notch higher and Milap has worked rigorously on the action scenes with John during the lockdown."

Producer Nikkhil Advani, who is in Lucknow, said that since Zaveri has developed the subject, he realised that Lucknow would be an apt setting and relocated the story there.

Before the coronavirus struck, Satyameva Jayate 2 was based in Mumbai. The director confided that the roots of John's character in the film are in Varanasi. The transition will give the film a pan-India feel, appealing even to the viewers in the interiors, he said.

The team will also be shooting for a few days at a Mumbai studio early next year before calling it a wrap.

Produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar (T-Series), Monisha Advani, Madhu Bhojwani and Nikkhil Advani (Emmay Entertainment), Satyameva Jayate 2 is slated to release on May 12, 2021.

With inputs from ANI