India — Chethan D’Souza Built the “Jailer 2” Action Around Rajinikanth’s Smallest Gestures — and a Leg-on-Face Beat the Star Suggested Himself
- Chethan D’Souza was the action director on the Rajinikanth film “Jailer 2.”
- He says Rajinikanth suggested a leg-on-face move for the fight with SJ Suryah.
- D’Souza trained in martial arts and worked a corporate job before action directing full time.
Posted: October 28, 2026
Most of the job on a Rajinikanth picture is deciding what not to shoot. D’Souza frames the “Jailer 2” work as reading a grammar that already exists — a scarf flick, a hand movement, a bullet deflected barehanded — and building action that serves it rather than competing with it. His line on slow motion is the one worth pinning up: it elevates a beat that has already been earned by staging and continuity, and it cannot manufacture one that hasn’t.
The Rajinikanth–SJ Suryah confrontation is where that restraint shows. A handful of punches carries the brutality, with sound and performance doing the work the camera is deliberately not doing, leaving the audience to fill the gaps. Into that spareness came the star’s own suggestion — a leg-on-face beat. D’Souza says he was wary of how the fanbase would read it; director Nelson and Rajinikanth pushed it through. It was a hard shot to land, and what made it possible was the actor being willing to go for it, which is the part of a gag that no amount of blocking replaces.
His route in is a reminder of how many action directors arrive sideways. Martial arts training from 2002, black belts in two disciplines, a decade as a software developer, and a short called “Wrong Move” — martial arts plus gymnastics, made with his brother — that got him in front of filmmaker Pawan Kumar and onto “U Turn.” The credential that mattered next was procedural: a fight master card from the All Karnataka Cine Stunt Directors and Stunt Artists Association, which he credits Puneeth Rajkumar with helping him secure. Credits since include “Bhairathi Ranagal,” “Aavesham,” “Max” and “Bagheera.”
He is also blunt about who stays invisible. His company, CF Action Design, uses a headless figure holding a knife as its logo — the stunt crew whose work powers the sequence while their faces stay out of it. He thinks recognition for stunt professionals is improving and that the distance left to cover is considerable. Next up: Suriya’s “Scene,” Jr NTR’s “Dragon” — which he says wants realistic action for an assassin — and Prabhas’ “Fauzi,” which wants the opposite.
Learn more on IMDb: Jailer 2 (2026) · Chethan D’Souza
