High kicks, big stretches

IT HAS been 12 years since the pair last worked as a team but now Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan and director Stanley Tong are back together for an action comedy of the kind that Chan’s fans have been yearning for.
“Kung Fu Yoga”, as the new movie is called, is an Indian-Chinese co-production that also stars Bollywood favourites Amyra Dastur and Disha Patani. 
Chan and Tong were over in Bangkok last weekend to promote the film and also present 1,000 relief supply bags to help flood victims in the southern provinces. Chan dug into his own pockets too, donating Bt2.4 million to the cause.
Thailand is among the places that Chan calls home. He clearly recalls living in Yaowarat as a child and never fails to mention those memories when he’s back in the country. 
Now 62, the actor still has plenty of energy and drive. Last year alone he filmed four movies that are guaranteed to please his legions of fans. From the serious character he plays in “Railroad Tigers”, released here earlier this month, he’s gone back to his comic ways for “Kung Fu Yoga”. And in the other two films, both slated for release this year, he plays very different characters again. 
“Over the last ten years, I’ve been trying to change what filmgoers think about Jackie Chan by constantly switching characters,” he explains.
It’s a philosophy that has seen him play a martial arts master in the 2010 remake of “The Karate Kid”, a warrior in the 2015 Chinese-Hong Kong historical action film “Dragon Blade” and a freedom fighter in “Railroad Tigers”. 
“But it’s the action comedy that people love the most and, to be honest, so do I. It's a genre all members of the family can watch together. It's healthy action comedy that has no violence,” says the actor.
“Kung Fu Yoga” is one of three Sino-Indian co-productions being made under an agreement between the two countries. The other two are the biographical feature “Xuan Zang,” based on the seventh-century monk's pilgrimage to India, and “Buddies in India,” which marks the directorial debut of Chinese comedian Wang Baoqiang (“Lost in Thailand”).
“I was looking for something to do and noticed that yoga was very hot in Asia. So I asked Stanley is we could maybe combine kung fu and yoga. He thought it was good idea so here we are,” says Chan.
Tong spent nine months developing the story. The film itself took another two years, with cast and crew jetting from China to India, Iceland and Dubai to shoot on location.
Chan plays a Chinese archaeologist at the Terracotta Warriors Museum in Xi’an who teams up with an Indian professor (Dastur) and her assistant (Patani) to track down a long-lost treasure. The trio navigates dangerous rebels and double crosses while hunting for the buried jewels through Iceland, India, Dubai and Hong Kong.
Tong admits that working with Chan is hard but fun. 
“The problem is that every single movie has to be fresh and new and none of the action sequences can be repeated. I always have to push Jackie to challenge himself, like spending 350 hours diving with sharks and learning to water ski barefoot. We go through a lot trying to give the audience the best movie we can make,” says the director, who first worked with Chan 25 years ago on “A Police Story 3: Supercop”. The pair also collaborated on such hits as “Rumble in the Bronx,” “A Police Story 4: Strike Back” and “The Myth”.
“He's my mentor and my big brother,” says Tong with a grin.
The chemistry between the two is not just evident in their work but also in the charity projects they do through the Hong Kong Stunt Association.
“But even though we have a lot in common, the difference is that Jackie loves to try his hand at playing many different characters. I, on the other hand, prefer to stick to the kind of movie that I think Jackie will do best –an action adventure family picture. I also always want an sequence where his character is in an impossible situation then suddenly the cinema erupts in laughter. It's that kind of style that people love about him,” Tong says.
And “Kung Fu Yoga” is precisely that kind of action comedy that attracts audiences of all ages.
“Usually I provide around five to seven original action sequences that nobody has ever done before. Then we need to work them in so they fit with the story. But people are always asking for more and so we have 10 action sequences in this film.” says the director, adding that these include diving in glaciers in Iceland, and working with real wild animals in Dubai. There’s even one scene featuring a real lion in the same car with Chan. “The big cat and the cars were loaned to us by Dubai's royal family,” Tong grins.
The action superstar has just received an honorary Oscar for his extraordinary achievements in films from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a gesture that he says surprised him. 
“A long time ago we always did what I call cheap action movies and that’s a comedy action style that doesn’t win awards. But getting the award in Hollywood in November was very exciting. When we got back to the hotel, I went to bed while people took pictures all night with the award! When I woke up, I’d forgotten all about it. Then we came back to Asia and started making movies again,” says the actor.

“What makes me happy is that I’ve been making movies for 56 years and I believe all of you probably grew up with my movie,” he continues, gesturing towards the press.
“I remember that about 30 years ago when I went to Hollywood, nobody listened to me when I choreographed action scenes. They did not like it. But 30 years later, everybody was doing what I used to say,” he says.
“That's why I tell the audience all the time that I earned the Oscar not just for what I am doing today or from what I did just last year but for my entire career,” says Chan who rose to stardom in the late 1970s with “Snake in the Eagle's Shadow” and “Drunken Masters”. He later shifted to modern action comedy with such films as “Project A” and “A Police Story” and also spent time in Hollywood before moving back to Asia.
Chan loves working and says that being on the set keeps him young. He still does his own action scenes and keeps fit.
“I exercise a lot and I try and walk everywhere, even up and down the escalator. Working on the set keeps me happy and sometimes I forget how old I am,” he says.
  WELL WORTH 
WATCHING
- “Kung Fu Yoga” goes on general release today. Check your local cinema for screening times.