As a first-time director of a high-octane action film, Sajid Nadiadwala wanted the best of technology to assist his skills behind the camera. Apart from foreign locations, he opted for a few international technicians. But, for the kind of fight sequences he had planned for the film’s lead, Salman Khan, which involved scaling and descending from highrises while pulling off a heist, he didn’t want to kill the impact by using long zoom lens. That’s when he decided to adopt the Hollywood practice of employing drones in the film Kick (2014).

“In locations where the result of a long zoom is too dull and helicopters are too huge to be used, drones work perfectly. In scenes shot between two high-rises, we could film Salman from multiple angles, from bird’s eye view to worm’s eye view,” says the producer-turned-director. His production house, Nadiadwala Grandsons, has since used drones for the shooting of Kabir Khan’s latest, Phantom, and is in further talks with drone companies.

The use of drones is becoming common in filming. This isn’t limited to feature films alone but also includes documentary and ad films. Most large-scale live events today use drones for surveillance as well as filming. Quidich, a company that builds and leases out drones, was the official partner of NH7 Weekender and Supersonic music festivals and helped organisers film the event as well as watch out for trouble....