Shooting for highly anticipated Bollywood film, Thugs of Hindostan, is set to begin in Malta on June 5, according to The Hindustan Times.

The film is an adaptation of the best-selling novel, Confessions of a Thug, and will explore the thug culture that was present in India prior to the independence era.

The crew of Yash Raj Films seems to have chosen the island due to its seascape and landscape.

The exact location of the shoot is unknown, however, writer-director Vijay Krishna Acharya said in a statement, “The set of the film is in a high-security water zone, with restricted access."

The film will be shot aboard two tailor-made ships that apparently took over two months to build and are already docked in Malta awaiting the cast. 

"These ships have been built in the early eighteenth-century style, when vessels would carry cannons and other weapons. An international crew has been hard at work creating these elaborate ships in Malta. Most of the portions filmed on board these ships involve high-octane action,” Acharya added. 

Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Shaikh will all feature and the film plans for a 2018 release during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.