Development Prior to
principal photography, the film enjoyed widespread media coverage due to the tremendous box office successes of previous instalments
Dhoom 2 and
Dhoom as well as the confirmation of Aamir Khan as the film's lead antagonist, thereby creating anticipation amongst the audience and media. On 2 January 2011, the producer of the previous
Dhoom films Aditya Chopra, confirmed that the third instalment of the
Dhoom series would begin principal photography by the end of 2011. Initially, the producers and Khan wanted to release the film on Christmas of 2012, but the plan was scrapped in favour of an early release date in 2013, mainly due to a forecast that a Christmas release would force a rushed post-production schedule, which was considered unfavorable given the high degree of technicality required for the film. Around was spent just on the production side of
Dhoom 3. Reportedly, Chopra wanted to make the film in
3D after observing the successes of previous Bollywood films released in this format. However, actor Aamir Khan opined that the 3D technology needed expertise and was unsure of the outcome of its utilisation by the director. ,
YRF Studios had not announced the production of the film in 3D.
Casting Aamir Khan joined the cast as the lead
antagonist after he enjoyed hearing the script, while Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra were confirmed to reprise their roles as Jai Dixit and Ali Akbar respectively. Khan learned ballet,
aerobatics and the French technique of
parkour, a method of movement focused on negotiating obstacles with speed and efficiency, while Kaif took
paragliding training and singing lessons. Bachchan reportedly lost nine kilos of weight to prepare for his role in the film.
Rimi Sen, who played ACP Jai Dixit's (character played by Abhishek Bachchan) wife in the previous two instalments of the series, was not approached to play her character Sweety. However, she stated that she would not have reprised the role even if she were offered. Unlike the first two
Dhoom films directed by
Sanjay Gadhvi,
Vijay Krishna Acharya, the writer of all three instalments of
Dhoom, was roped in to direct
Dhoom 3 Olliver Keller was signed to direct the stunt scenes.
Aamir Khan stated in an interview that his role in
Dhoom 3 is the toughest role so far in his life. The action scenes were directed by
Conrad Palmisano and Sham Kaushal. In an interview with
IANS, Abhishek Bachchan expressed how every character of
Dhoom 3 is significant: "...
Dhoom is my film and I am the hero. Nobody can take that away from me. You can be the biggest or the smallest star but
Dhoom is about Jai and Ali. It is as simple as that. If the characters of Jai and Ali are not there in
Dhoom, the film won't be there." On 23 September 2013, three months before the actual release of the film,
DNA and other media news publications revealed that Aamir Khan could play a double role in
Dhoom 3, but they did not confirm it. The dual role was only confirmed at the release of the film. This made
Dhoom 3 the first and currently the only film in the series in which the antagonist has a double role. However, this was not the first time the series featured a double role, since
Bipasha Basu had a double role in
Dhoom 2 as Shonali and Monali, but they did not share the same screen space, unlike Khan's characters.
Filming in Switzerland, where the climax of the film was shot Filming was scheduled to commence from November 2011, with scenes involving Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra being shot first, but the former was off on a paternity leave, so shooting was postponed to January 2012. The schedule was then pushed to June because of lead actor Aamir's prior commitments with his TV show
Satyamev Jayate; in June, the filming schedule was further postponed for a month because Khan wanted to prepare himself for his role of a gymnast. Khan also wanted to concentrate on the marketing and promotion of his 2012 film
Talaash. Without any further delays, filming commenced with
Jackie Shroff and
Siddharth Nigam, the child actor playing child Sahir, on 8 June 2012 at the
YRF Studios in
Mumbai. Aamir Khan joined the crew in July 2012, filming for five days at
Yash Raj Studios and further continued to shoot in Chicago and other parts of the United States. Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, and Uday Chopra flew to the US on 4 August 2012 to complete a three-month schedule. On arrival in India in December 2012, Bachchan stated that fifty percent of filming was complete and would again resume in
Mumbai. In the second week of March 2013, it was reported that the crew had departed for
Zurich and
Ticino,
Switzerland to film the climax. The shooting of the film finally wrapped up on 14 September 2013 at a suburban studio in Mumbai. The climactic scene in
Dhoom 3 was shot at the famous
arch dam,
Contra Dam (commonly known as the Verzasca Dam) in
Ticino, Switzerland. It is the same dam that became a popular bungee jumping venue after a
James Bond stuntman jumped off it in the opening scene of the 1995 film
GoldenEye. == Music ==