Jagjit Kaliraman, coach of Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma, and Kripa Shankar Patel, coach of Aamir Khan and his reel life daughters Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh, spoke to Kritika Dua about training stars and how big ticket films can change the way Indians look at wrestling
I learnt a bit of acting from them and they learnt a bit of wrestling from me,” says Jagjit Kaliraman about training Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma for Sultan. His sincerity and adeptness won him the role of Salman’s coach in the film. And he is appreciative of the progress made by his short-term students. “He (Khan) lifted me and Palwinder Cheema on his shoulders during the movie’s wrap-up party and the image was not doctored,” he certifies, proud of his celebrity protege.
If you thought Bhai relies on his cherubic innocence and larger-than-life persona, Sultan has changed that. “Salman has researched well to learn the mannerisms of a wrestler like a perfectionist actor. He was on a non-veg etarian diet for this film. Both he and Anushka have gained and lost weight as per the requirement of this movie,” says Jagjit. He praises the director as well for his patience in canning necessary retakes of action sequences to make them look as authentic and correct as possible and incorporating the right techniques.
But Jagjit also had to handle the Damocles’ sword over his head. His brief during the five-month training schedule was to not let his leads suffer any serious injury. “This was a challenge considering we have used real wrestling techniques. We have worked really hard to make the fighting sequences authentic and have the raw grit of an akhada. You can get all the behind-the-scenes in a recently released documentary, World of Sultan, on YouTube.” Jagjit has also taught real life wrestlers in the movie to put in the right amount of energy in wrestling and not get conscious while facing the camera for the first time.
The film has everything from mud wrestling to Olympic-style bouts. Salman Khan has performed some moves of mixed martial arts as well. “If more sports-based films are made in India, they will generate a healthy interest in our disciplines and better the lot of sportspersons and youth. Since films capture the imagination, the gloss of the big screen will make sport seem like a worthy pursuit,” rounds off Jagjit.
-Three women wrestlers trained by him will be seen at this year’s Rio Olympics — Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Babita Kumari. So Kripa Shankar Patel was an obvious choice for training the crew of Dangal. Fifteen female actors/models were selected and entrusted to him for fifteen days to find out the ones having fast catching power and the fitness level required to learn kushti. He trained and selected three-four girls among them. Finally, the production house chose Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh to play Aamir Khan’s daughters.
The “rookie” superstar also signed up and he worked on the team for a year. Hailing from Sonkhedi village in Madhya Pradesh, Patel believes women can be good wrestlers if given an equal opportunity and hopes the film will encourage many women to take it up as a serious skill sport. “It’s the first serious movie on wrestling. Usually the sport is often made fun of in popular films. With Dangal, Olympic-style wrestling will be shown with utmost authenticity.” Patel believes injuries are like medallions for the true wrestler. He designed the training programme for Aamir and the girls to give them explosive strength, including cross-country training, running for 45 minutes and gymming for one hour with proper rest given to them for recovery. The training schedule was the same as the senior women wrestling team of India(of which he is a coach) but with less intensity which was increased over time. “At the training sessions, Aamir and the girls followed my instructions to a T and were keen to learn the nuances of the craft. There is a true-blue feel of mud-wrestling as well as tournament moves.” As for his impressions of the star brigade from Mumbai, he tells us, “Aamir is a good listener; I learnt tap dancing from him.”