One of the best fight scenes in recent times is in RGV's "Ek Hasina Thi" where Saif kicks major butt against 4 gangsters. Realistic choreography and soundwork here by the crew of EHT. No frills at all like 95% of all BW films.

good topic todd

I am also really picky when it comes to good action scenes, and most of the stuff in bw is really bad (like rks and sanjay gupta films)

though I disagree w/ most of your choices - I have not seen ‘the myth’ but I thought the stuff from ‘main hoon na’ was garbage

I agree w/ you on ‘mission kashmir’ though, there was nothing impressive abt the action… it was just shot well

the ajay fight in rks’s ‘lajja’ was cool though, that weapon he used was interesting… like something out of a 70’s hk flick

and I agree that it is definitely more than the actual choreography that make a fight scene great - such as the direction, the actors (or stunt doubles at least), the cinematography, the editing, where the fight takes place… even the type of music/score which is playing during the fight

esp the actors though, I think it is really important for actors to be really physical, flexible and to really sell the fight scenes - I think actors like surya/srikant are the best at selling fight scenes

In Indian films - I think peter hyne is probably the most well known fight choreographer right now - he has done a lot a good work in tamil/telugu/hindi - james, run/run, chatrapati, gowri, varsham, athadu, kk/gharshana, son of mahalakshmi, bose (w/ srikant) - and a bunch more, they are worth checking out

though one trend I really dislike in hindi films (and a bit in tamil/telugu) is that they are copying kung fu/chinese action scenes… like ‘main hoon na’ and ‘anniyan’

I personally hate kung fu scenes/choreography…. all that flying, flipping around shit

I can’t stand all that matrix, crouching tiger, flying daggers, hero crap

and even worse is that I heard that the koi mil gaya sequel will have some chinese action director

kung fu choreography seems like nothing more then elaborately choreographed dance sequences… they might as well just get farah khan to do the fights lol

for my action fix I prefer to watch more realistic combat forms on screen - mainly southeast asian combat arts from thailand, philippines…. like kali (‘bourne identity’, friedkin’s ‘the hunted’) or thai boxing (‘ong bak’)

I also wish bollywood had some better gunplay - if you watch some of the best hollywood gunplay, like ‘way of the gun’ or mann’s ‘heat’ and ‘collateral’, it is years ahead of most of the bw stuff

or even have more fighting with weapons… chambara style like james and virumaandi

I think out of the current crop of bw directors rgv is the only guy who knows what he is doing - his films like ‘ek hasina thi’, ‘d’ and ‘james’ have really good action

and I was reading in an interview that he plans on getting an american military specialist to work as an advisor on his upcoming film on terrorism ‘ek’ - now that is a huge step in the right direction!

as for best fight scenes….

- sunny vs. the nunchuku guy in ‘arjun’ - if you have not seen this scene I will not give it away, but this easily the greatest action scene ever!!
- james jail break scene in ‘james’ - the one where mohit takes on ravi kale and the rest of the constables in the jail house
- the chambara scene at the end of ‘james’ - the one in the rain w/ mohit vs. shereveer
- fight in the middle of traffic in ‘run’ - the one where maddy takes on the group of rowdies in traffic, and smashes them against on-coming vehicles
- kamal going chambara in virumaandi - the one after the girl dies and kamal is searching for pasupati. kamal breaks into his house and takes on a bunch of guys w/ a chete… leaving a trail of severed limbs
- ‘d’ had plenty of excellent gunplay - the gunfjght w/ chunky and his men on the docks, the one where they attack deshu’s house…
- the hotel room battle in ‘ek hasina thi’ - the one that hal mentioned, saif kicking some serious ass in the hotel room