Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; July 21, 2018)

To understand the nuances of an army officer ahead of filming for Paltan, Gurmeet Choudhary didn’t have to look too far for inspiration. Having earlier revealed that he was happy to play an Army man on the big screen, given that father, Major Sitaram Chaudhary, had been one, off it, mid-day has learnt that the actor even underwent a 15-day prep with him for the part.

“My father has served the Army for years and imparted training to new recruits. So, who better than him could train for my character in Paltan? It was a challenging, yet learning experience to train under him for before kick- starting the movie,” says Gurmeet.

Though he would go on to be trained under the watchful eye of the film’s action director, the actor made sure he had done thorough homework before reporting on the set of the J P Dutta-directed film. “Dad taught me rope climbing and military low-crawling. He also helped me adopt the ramrod straight posture required while holding guns.“

Major Sitaram Choudhary, who hails from Bhagalpur, was posted in Chandigarh, Chennai and Jabalpur in the course of his service. Gurmeet reveals that his father harboured the dream of seeing him follow in his footsteps. “But, I couldn’t do that because I was bitten by the acting bug. When I told him about the film, he said [agreeing to do it] was the best decision of my life.”