Suddenly Bangkok beckons Bollywood bigtime. Half the film industry is currently stationed in the State Of Sin, though for work rather than pleasure.

First of all, the 4 As….Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao have been in Bangkok for a month shooting for Neera Vora’s Shortcut.

Another A-star Akshay Kumar is also in Bangkok with his pretty co-star Deepika Padukone shooting for Nikhil Advani’s Chandni Chowk To China.

Contrary to reports Ranbir Kapoor flew to Bangkok on Friday not to join Deepika but for a photosession for Filmfare magazine.

Bangkok, in fact, is currently the hottest spot not only for film shooting but also other glam-related events.

Priyanka Chopra flew to Bangkok last week to do an ad with Saif Ali Khan.

“It was touch-and-go because I had to wrap up the ad then rush back to Mumbai and then rush to Miami for Tarun Mansukhani’s Dostana. But the rush was worth it because I always like going to Bangkok for holidays and work.”

Sammir Dattani who’s holidaying in Bangkok and Pataya with his friends,ran into several colleagues from the industry.

“The entire industry seemed to be there, either holidaying or working.And why not? Bangkok is a fun spot and at the same time very work-oriented. I shot for my comedy Dhoom Dhadaka in Bangkok. Now I’m back here for holiday.”

Sammir sees more and more of Bollywood making a beeline for Bangkok this year, and never mind if Nagesh Kukunoor’s Bombay To Bangkok was a big thud.

Move over comic capers. With Abbas-Mustan’s ‘Race’ hitting the marquee, adrenaline-pumping action flicks with jaw-dropping stunts are back at the Indian box-office and the film industry is betting big on it.

It is not just the gentlemen who are rolling up their sleeves and taking the plunge from skyscrapers but the ladies too are following suit.

Whether it is home grown Mumbai-based studio producers or their Hollywood counterparts trying to find a foothold in India, action thrillers are the latest fad. And for the mobile gaming industry, Bollywood’s re- awakened interest in the genre is godsend.

‘Race’, this year’s first true-blue action thriller that released Friday, got off to a flying start with collections soaring in multiplexes. The archetypical Abbas-Mustan movie was a welcome change for an audience that has been thirsting for adrenaline rush.

Starring Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Anil Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif and Sameera Reddy, the movie is an action thriller and murder mystery.

‘Race’ has heroes jumping from air balloons, well-toned female actors running besides cars that are going up in flames and state-of-the-art pyrotechnics by action director Allan Amin.

The grapevine is that Saif went up to the height of 200 feet in an air balloon and did bungee jumping for a scene in the film. The ladies in the film also had their piece of action.

Soon Saif will be seen in another action-packed film – ‘Tashan’ – that is equally high on style.

‘Action is an intricate genre now. It is meant for the audience who appreciate ‘Die Hard 4′ and enjoy the Bond flicks.

Though Indian films are yet to match the international budgets, we had to start from somewhere,’ said Anubhav Sinha, who was the man behind last year’s action thriller ‘Cash’.

For long Bollywood did not have the concept of genre films. Most films were family dramas with other elements like romance, action, comedy, etc, thrown in. Genres like sci-fi, horror, mystery, war, espionage did not exist in Bollywood. As a result we have not had too many nail-biting suspense flicks, or thrillers that truly thrill.

A sea change has happened with audiences willing to see genre films and not the something-for-everyone omnibus films that Bollywood generally makes. And action is one genre that is fast catching on.

Even actors who started off as action heroes and later deviate into comedy and family dramas are coming back for more plain and simple action. One such example is industry’s original action hero – Akshay Kumar – who after a string of comedies will be seen in hardcore action-packed thrillers.

The actor, who started his career as a Karate teacher, plays a Hollywood stuntman in Sajid Nadiadwala’s ‘Kambakth Ishq’ which is being shot in Universal Studios. It is the first Indian film to be shot within Universal Studios.

Apart from that, Akshay will be seen in Nikhil Advani’s action flick ‘Chandni Chowk to China’ that is funded by a Hollywood studio. It remains to be seen whether these will be a concoction of all of Bollywood favourite elements or belong to action genre alone.

Not to be left behind, the ladies are taking to action like never before. Aishwarya Rai showed off her sword-wielding skills in a Hollywood film, ‘The Last Legion’, and in ‘Jodhaa Akbar’. Now, it is the turn of other Bollywood belles to call the shots.

Bipasha Basu, Esha Deol, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Tanushree Dutta and Koena Mitra are all rearing to fight it out.

After Priyanka stood her ground against Shah Rukh Khan in ‘Don’, she will be seen in a daredevil act in upcoming ‘Love Story: 2050′ as well as ‘Drona’ in which she plays Abhishek Bachchan’s bodyguard.

Not to be left behind, Kareena too will be seen as a butt-kicking babe in soon-to-be-released ‘Tashan’.

Director duo Abbas-Mustan is planning a heroine-based action film to be directed by Rohit Jugraj. There’s a growing market for action-packed roles for ladies now and the audience has become more open and encouraging to such varied roles for girls.

Shilpa Shetty has gone many steps further and announced her foray into production with a big budget action-comedy. The winner of last year’s Britain reality TV show – ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ – is investing her riches in a two-heroine project.

While Shilpa will be playing one part, she is in the process of signing on another big Bollywood heroine for the other. The film will be produced under Shilpa’s production house S2 Global Productions with some top-of- the-line international technicians as part of her crew.

This Friday’s release Race has Bipasha Basu doing some extremely risky stunts.

When it comes to showing her spunk, Bips is not behind men. While the film’s leading men – Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna – did dangerous stunts for ‘Race’, Bipasha, too, did a very risky scene that could have cost her dearly.

The sultry actress ran just meters away from an exploding car for an action sequence in the film.

The sequence shows Bipasha in her BMW, being chased by a killer. When her car gets stuck and she sees the killer driving at full hilt to ram into her car, Bipasha leaves her vehicle just in the nick of time. The killer rams into her car and it explodes and is blown into the air.

The scene was shot under the guidance of experienced action director Allan Amin. But there was a genuine risk that the blown car might land on Bipasha during the scene.

Initially, Allan thought that Bipasha might not agree to do the scene, considering the risk involved. But the actress was game for it.

Before the scene Allan took every possible precaution. The scene also needed to be canned in a single shot.

Everyone on the sets was nervous before the shot. Bipasha was just 20 steps away from the car that was to be blown into the air. Director duo Abbas-Mastan called ‘action’. Bipasha ran. The car exploded. It flew over Bipasha’s head and landed some distance away.

Thankfully, the actress was safe and the shot was ‘okayed’.

Bipasha says she isn’t really scared of doing risky stunts. The only thing that haunts her is the fear of heights.

Well, she is already at a high place in Bollywood. Aren’t you Bips.