Border 2 Director Anurag Singh Reveals The Most Challenging Scenes To Film With Sunny Deol And Varun Dhawan

Border 2 director Anurag Singh opens up about the toughest scenes to shoot, revealing why large-scale war sequences featuring Sunny Deol and Varun Dhawan were a massive challenge.

Director Anurag Singh discusses the complex filming process behind Border 2’s large-scale war sequences.

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Key points generated by AI, verified by newsroom

• Filming large-scale battles without green screens proved challenging.
• Coordinating hundreds of crew members and actors required precision.
• Balancing action, emotion, and technical execution was difficult.
• Recreating aerial combat and character-specific scenes demanded meticulous planning.

Mounting a war epic on a massive scale is never easy, and Border 2 director Anurag Singh has now revealed just how demanding the process truly was. As the sequel to a legendary 1997 classic roars at the box office, Singh has opened up about the most challenging parts of filming the action-heavy drama, especially the intense sequences featuring Sunny Deol and Varun Dhawan.

Why Border 2 Was Exceptionally Difficult To Film

(Image Source: Twitter/@rohitjswl01)

According to Anurag Singh, the biggest hurdle lay in executing large-scale battle scenes without leaning on green-screen shortcuts. The director explained that the sheer size of the production made every shoot a logistical test.

“The scale is so big. There are about 300 to 400 crew members on set at any given time. We were shooting on real locations, not green screens. We filmed in Dehradun and Jhansi, dealing with extreme cold in some schedules and harsh summer heat in others,” Anurag told Bollywood Hungama.

Working with real terrain meant dealing with unpredictable weather, extended setups, and complex coordination across departments—factors that significantly raised the difficulty level.

Coordinating Battlefield Chaos With Precision

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Singh noted that war scenes demand flawless timing, as hundreds of moving parts must work together seamlessly. Every explosion, flame burst, and movement had to be carefully planned.

“The blasts have to go off at the exact time, actors need to be positioned at specific distances when flames erupt, and there are nearly 500 people fighting in the background. This isn’t a one-on-one fight; it’s a battlefield. Coordinating action on that scale is incredibly difficult,” he added.

With hundreds of performers and technicians involved in each shot, even minor miscalculations could disrupt entire sequences.

From Trenches To Tanks: Actor-Specific Challenges

Another major hurdle was recreating aerial combat. Since real fighter jets could not be used, these moments were built entirely using VFX, demanding meticulous planning to ensure realism.

Singh also highlighted the difficulty of balancing emotion with technical execution. “To get thrill, emotion, and action together in a single shot, with all the technicalities, was the trickiest part,” he said.

He cited Varun Dhawan’s trench sequences, which needed to appear gritty and raw, while Sunny Deol’s tank scenes had to feel powerful yet emotionally grounded, an especially delicate balance in a high-octane war setting.

Directed by Anurag Singh, Border 2 stars Sunny Deol, Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh, and Ahan Shetty in lead roles, with Mona Singh, Sonam Bajwa, Anya Singh, and Medha Rana playing key parts. The film is a sequel to J.P. Dutta’s iconic 1997 war drama Border and is set against the backdrop of the 1971 India–Pakistan war.

Expanding the battlefield to include the Indian Army, Air Force, and Navy across multiple fronts, the film has struck a chord with audiences. According to Sacnilk, Border 2 has already earned ₹144.65 crore at the box office, cementing its place as one of the biggest war films of the year.