Be it Madhuri Dixit in Gulab Gang, Priyanka Chopra in the Mary Kom biopic, Nargis Fakhri in Madras Café, Kareena Kapoor in Gori Tere Pyar Mein, Katrina Kaif in Dhoom 3 or Kangana Ranaut in Krrish 3, actresses are donning action suits in a big way. But all this comes atop intense training sessions and fitness regimes these actresses undergo. Sangeeta Yadav speaks with their trainers to bring you the good, bad and the ugly of this all-woman action trend
GUlAB GANG
Stunt artist: Shaolin master Shifu Kanishk Sharma
Action: Madhuri Dixit will be donning the action heroine avatar for the first time in Anubhav Sinha’s film Gulab Gang. To get her action sequences right, she had to undergo rigourous training in Shaolin art under the guidance of Kanishk Sharma. He trained her in kick-boxing and high-kick moves. The training which lasted eight months, required the diva to spend at least five hours a day with her trainer.
Hard talk: “Madhuri gives her best shot in one go. Initially, she was very apprehensive about doing stunts as this is her first action film. She used to pester me with queries like, “do you think I would be able to do stunts without using a stunt doubleIJ’ I used to tell her: ‘You are a dancing diva and you are well versed with rhythm, footwork and right timing. The same principle is applied in a stunt scene.’
“I’ve trained her in Kali Majapahit and Shaolin martial art forms. She took more than 13 days to get the right moves,” Sharma, who is now training Anil Kapoor for TV show 24, tells you. He started training Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar in 2004 and is better known for his diehard stunts in Farhan Akthar’s Don (2006). Sharma has also choreographed stunts for Dhoom. Before moving on to Bollywood, Sharma used to train special forces in counter terror defence.
DHOOM 3
Stunt artists: Olliver Keller (stunt director) and Shyam Kaushal (action director).
Action: A snapshot of Dhoom 3 that went viral on You Tube shows Katrina Kaif performing a stunt on a metal structure with footholds and crimps. For this particular film, Kaif underwent training in paragliding, acrobatics and light action.
Masterspeak: “Nowadays, actresses prefer to do their own stunts instead of asking for doubles. But when there are heavy stunts required, a double is the best option.
“What happens is that actresses watch stuntwomen performing action sequences with such ease that they want to give it a try themselves. But we have to be very careful so our advise to them is to undergo strict training to be be fit to carry out these stunts,” Shyam Kaushal, action director of Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Gangs Of Wasseypur, lootera and upcoming films like Krrish 3, Dhoom3, Besharam and Ramleela, tells you.
MadrasCafe
Action: Nargis Fakhri, who plays the role of a war journalist, is part of an underwater action sequence. For this, she went through intense ocean training for over a year.
Quote Unquote: “The stunts, be it realistic or larger-than-life, are put in by the scriptwriter when he is compiling the story.
“When actors commit to a movie, they know what kind of action sequences they need to do. It is the stuntman’s duty to choreograph the scene, train the actor and apprise her of all the risks involved,” Kaushal says.
KRRISH 3
Stunt artist: Chinese martial arts expert Siu-Tung Ching and Sanobar Pardiwala, the youngest woman stunt artist in Bollywood.
Action: Kangana Ranaut, who plays Revolver Rani in Krrish 3, was trained in mixed martial arts for two months. She will be seen doing stunts alongside Hrithik Roshan.
Masterstroke: “If an actor gets injured while performing an action sequence, the film can get delayed and the producer may incur huge losses. So action directors usually hire women stunt doubles for risky scenes.
But the trend now is that actresses want to do stunts. That makes the film more believable,” Sanobar Pardiwala says. She was the double of Bipasha Basu and Katrina Kaif in Race, Esha Deol in Dhoom, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Dhoom 2 and Preity Zinta in Veer Zara.
FIlM ON MARY KOM
Stunt artist: Physical trainer Samir Jaura
Action: Priyanka Chopra is leaving no stone unturned to get under the skin of her character — boxer MC Mary Kom. She is undergoing training with international boxers.
GORI TERE PYAAR MEIN
Action: Kareena Kapoor, too, had refused a stunt double for an action sequence in the film Gori Tere Pyaar Mein. A sequence in the film required her to walk on a jute rope without being strapped. Though she managed to do so, the heat and the jute rope left her feet badly bruised but Kapoor was happy with the effort she made.