Despite acquiring a yellow belt in judo, karate and taekwondo, and spending his childhood indulging in sports like football and kho-kho, Siddhant Chaturvedi never looked at fitness as an identity until the age of 26. “I have played my way through fitness,” says the actor, speaking to mid-day from the sidelines of the Skechers Mumbai Walkathon.

“I love combat, and especially kicking. In the city, buried under skyscrapers, there’s hardly any place to play. That’s also the reason I signed up for a [football league].”

He presents a unique case when highlighting his love for sports like parkour. “In a city where you want to reach from point A to B in a short time, you need to run while navigating obstacles. That  is why I learnt the sport for two years. The idea of reaching destinations in the shortest time possible, and leaping over obstacles [appealed to me]. The drills are so challenging that becoming fit is a by-product. In fact, I was shooting for an action film that releases next year. And while the [international] team was to turn up here three months ahead of the shoot to train me, they decided that they only needed a month, because I showed them videos of what I could pull off.”

The actor pins the blame of his inability to easily acquire a desired “aesthetic appearance for cinema”, on his mother. “While that kind of a body is not even healthy, and is very difficult to acquire, it’s tough for me, because I live with my family, and my mother is a brilliant cook. She doesn’t let me acquire those [defined] abs as quickly as I could. So, when I shoot outdoors, like I did for Gehraiyaan and my upcoming action film in Portugal, I can get fitter, faster, because she’s not around.”