Tuk-Tuk

Appears In
Octopussy

On Film
With 1983’s Octopussy taking Bond deep into east India, 007 makes a swift getaway after outfoxing exiled Afghan prince Kamal Khan in a game of backgammon, hopping aboard an auto-rickshaw motorised taxi driven by his Indian MI6 contact, Vijay. Khan’s henchmen give chase in a separate tuk-tuk and a pair of jeeps. Vijay’s tuk-tuk turns out to be a modified ‘company car’ and its extra power comes into play as the chase barrels through the busy streets of Udaipur. Vijay pulls a wheelie before rattling down steep steps and jumping over a camel as the heroes make their escape.

The Vehicle
The machines used on location in Rajasthan were custom-made by Bajaj Auto Ltd and were based on 1983 Honda ATC three-wheelers. A documentary made on set during filming cited their engine output at 10bhp, while director John Glen noted that they hit speeds of 60mph. The ‘hero’ machine also featured a heavily boosted suspension for its step-slaloming scene, while the chase vehicle, which carried chief henchmen Gobinda and his trumpet-barrelled blunderbuss, had a portion of the rear housing removed to allow the actor playing the role to duck in and out without clipping his turban on the roof. Once the scene was over, the engineers fixed this part of the vehicle.

The Production
Filming of the Udaipur chase sequence began on September 22, 1982 with franchise regular and stunt-driving ace Rémy Julienne overseeing the sequence. Chaotic scenes were common on the streets of Udaipur with one moment from the film showing a local man on a bicycle unwittingly riding into shot completely unperturbed by the spectacle of Khan’s henchmen wielding swords in public. Bond producer Cubby Broccoli was a keen tennis fan and he recruited India’s best-known player, Vijay Amritraj, to star as Bond’s racket-wielding MI6 contact.