After Priyanka Chopra in Don 2 (2011) and Katrina Kaif in Ek Tha Tiger, it’s now Jacqueline Fernandez’s turn to play the tough girl. The actor has shot a fencing sequence with Saif Ali Khan for Abbas-Mustan’s Race 2. “When Jacqueline heard about the fencing scene, she was worried about how she would manage it,” says Abbas. “We got two experts from Vietnam to teach her and told her to practice until she was confident. A sequence like this needs style and grace and you can’t hurry it up or it will not be justified.”

Jacqueline, on her part, worked hard for two months to learn the moves. “She was very impressive and even learnt some acrobatics,” says Abbas.

Jacqueline is playing a character with shades of grey, like everyone else in the film, and Abbas-Mustan wanted to ensure that she looked her best for the scene. She wore a fitted costume showing off her curves, with her hair flowing loose. Abbas says, “Head gear is worn during fencing but if we did that people would have assumed a stunt double was doing the scene. So we took cinematic liberty and left her hair loose which looks good with the moves and proves that she’s doing the stunt.”

Jacqueline says, “As our action director Peter Heins, (who earlier did the stunts for Ghajini (2005) and Agent Vinod) was not keen on using a double, I had to train extensively in action stunts and fencing as they are both relatively new to me. Luckily,
my cross fit and yoga background helped me.”

The director duo thought Saif would need lessons too, but “when we asked him, he said that being a Nawab he knows horse riding, fencing and polo. He had to practice a bit, after which he was good to go,” says Abbas.